---
title: This was a wise change, and as he sat writing day by day by the road… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: This was a wise change, and as he sat writing day by day by the roadside, his fame spread all over the city. Who acts: This, Yang, fame. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 80

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This was a wise change, and as he sat writing day by day by the roadside, his fame spread all over the city.

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**Who acts:** This, Yang, fame · **What happens:** be, sit, write, spread · **To what, where:** wise change, city

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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 (This, Yang, fame), 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:pg75089:18:80
# text = This was a wise change, and as he sat writing day by day by the roadside, his fame spread all over the city.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	change	change	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
11	writing	write	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	xcomp	_	_
12	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	roadside	roadside	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	fame	fame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	spread	spread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
22	all	all	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
23	over	over	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | This | a wise change |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sit** | past | Yang |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **write** | gerund | Yang *not said here* |  |  |  | day | by the roadside | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **spread** | past | Yang's fame |  |  | the city |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over city=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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