---
title: Seeing the desperate look in his eyes, she said, as she took him in… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Seeing the desperate look in his eyes, she said, as she took him in her arms, “Little son, you were nearly the death of your mother, but never mind, you shall know all. Who acts: mother, you. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 2, with 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 45

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Seeing the desperate look in his eyes, she said, as she took him in her arms, “Little son, you were nearly the death of your mother, but never mind, you shall know all.

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**Who acts:** mother, you · **What happens:** see, say, take, be, not mind, know · **To what, where:** desperate look, eyes, brick, arms, death, all · **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 (mother, you), 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:pg75089:18:45
# text = Seeing the desperate look in his eyes, she said, as she took him in her arms, “Little son, you were nearly the death of your mother, but never mind, you shall know all.
1	Seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	desperate	desperate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	look	look	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	obj	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	vocative	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
26	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
35	mind	mind	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	advcl	_	_
40	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | gerund | mother *not said here* | the desperate look |  | brick's eyes |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer look=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **take** | past | mother | brick |  | mother's arms |  | Little son *vocative* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** *in a quote* | past | you | the death |  |  |  | of your mother; nearly *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **mind** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **know** *in a quote* | shall | you | all |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer all=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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