---
title: The mother took in sewing and washing and most of all gave herself t… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: The mother took in sewing and washing and most of all gave herself to the care of her son, and in this quiet manner twelve years came and went. Who acts: mother, most, quiet manner, son. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 2, with its d
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The mother took in sewing and washing and most of all gave herself to the care of her son, and in this quiet manner twelve years came and went.

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**Who acts:** mother, most, quiet manner, son · **What happens:** take, give, come, go, care · **To what, where:** sewing, mother

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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, most, quiet manner, son), 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:pg75089:18:9
# text = The mother took in sewing and washing and most of all gave herself to the care of her son, and in this quiet manner twelve years came and went.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	sewing	sewing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	washing	washing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	12	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	9	nmod	_	_
12	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
13	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	12	iobj	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	care	care	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	det	_	_
24	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	manner	manner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
26	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
27	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl:unmarked	_	_
28	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | the mother |  |  | sewing and washing |  |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in sewing=Location |
| 2 | **give** | past | most of all |  | mother |  |  | to the care of mother's son | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent herself=Theme to care=Recipient |
| 3 | **come** | past | this quiet manner  twelve years |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **go** | past | this quiet manner  twelve years *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **care** |  | mother's son |  |  |  |  |  | nom care «act intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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