---
title: He sought the latter on returning home, told of his morning’s experi… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: He sought the latter on returning home, told of his morning’s experience, of the beauty of the lady, and his desire to secure her if possible. Who acts: Nien, morning. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 1, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 41

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He sought the latter on returning home, told of his morning’s experience, of the beauty of the lady, and his desire to secure her if possible.

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**Who acts:** Nien, morning · **What happens:** seek, return, tell, secure, experience, desire · **To what, where:** latter, keeper · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nien, morning), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75089:17:41
# text = He sought the latter on returning home, told of his morning’s experience, of the beauty of the lady, and his desire to secure her if possible.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sought	seek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	latter	latter	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	returning	return	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
7	home	home	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	’s	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	experience	experience	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	beauty	beauty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	desire	desire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	ccomp	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	secure	secure	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	acl	_	_
28	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
30	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seek** | past | Nien | the latter |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent latter=Theme |
| 2 | **return** | gerund | Nien *not said here* |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | Nien *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of Nien's morning's experience; of the beauty of the lady; Nien's desire *ccomp* | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **secure** | to-infinitive | Nien *not said here* | keeper |  |  |  |  | vn ensure-99 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition she=Theme |
| 5 | **experience** |  | Nien's morning |  |  |  |  |  | nom experience «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |
| 6 | **desire** |  | Nien |  |  |  |  |  | nom desire «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Project Gutenberg book 75089 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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