---
title: The caravan had just reached the city gate when they were met by Yen… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The caravan had just reached the city gate when they were met by Yen Sung and his riders, just returning from a feast. Who acts: Yen Sung. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every claus
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 9

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The caravan had just reached the city gate when they were met by Yen Sung and his riders, just returning from a feast.

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**Who acts:** Yen Sung · **What happens:** reach, meet, return · **To what, where:** caravan, carts, feast

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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 (Yen Sung), 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:pg75089:17:9
# text = The caravan had just reached the city gate when they were met by Yen Sung and his riders, just returning from a feast.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	caravan	caravan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	just	just	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	reached	reach	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	12	mark	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	met	meet	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	Yen	Yen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	Sung	Sung	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	riders	rider	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	just	just	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	returning	return	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	feast	feast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past · perfect · passive |  | the caravan |  |  |  | the city gate *obj* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary gate=Theme |
| 2 | **meet** | past · passive | Yen Sung and Shan's riders | carts *= cart* |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **return** | gerund | Yen Sung and Shan's riders *not said here* |  |  | a feast |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from feast=Initial\_Location |

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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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