---
title: One day a very rich old gentleman, who had been observing him quietl… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: One day a very rich old gentleman, who had been observing him quietly for many days, drew near and entered into conversation. Who acts: rich old gentleman. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 81

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One day a very rich old gentleman, who had been observing him quietly for many days, drew near and entered into conversation.

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**Who acts:** rich old gentleman · **What happens:** observe, draw, enter · **To what, where:** Yang, conversation, rich old gentleman

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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 (rich old gentleman), 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:pg75089:18:81
# text = One day a very rich old gentleman, who had been observing him quietly for many days, drew near and entered into conversation.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	rich	rich	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	gentleman	gentleman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	aux	_	_
12	observing	observe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	acl	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
20	near	near	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	entered	enter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
23	into	into	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	conversation	conversation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **observe** | past · perfect · progressive | a rich old gentleman  One day | Yang |  |  | day | quietly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent he=Topic |
| 2 | **draw** | past |  |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **enter** | past |  |  |  | conversation |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into conversation=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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