---
title: As they neared the gate they saw a lot of people gathered about a yo… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: As they neared the gate they saw a lot of people gathered about a young lad of remarkably fine face and form, but in very poor clothing. Who acts: lives, lot. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 109

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As they neared the gate they saw a lot of people gathered about a young lad of remarkably fine face and form, but in very poor clothing.

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**Who acts:** lives, lot · **What happens:** near, see, gather · **To what, where:** gate, poor clothing · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lives, lot), 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:pg75089:18:109
# text = As they neared the gate they saw a lot of people gathered about a young lad of remarkably fine face and form, but in very poor clothing.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	neared	near	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
12	gathered	gather	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	_
13	about	about	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	remarkably	remarkably	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	very	very	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	clothing	clothing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **near** | past | lives *= life* | the gate |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | past | lives *= life* |  |  | poor clothing |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **gather** | past | a lot of people |  |  |  |  | about a young lad of fine face and form | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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