---
title: She was greatly interested in this child-singer as she had heard him… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: She was greatly interested in this child-singer as she had heard him leading the workmen, and what was her horror when she saw one of her servants go up and strike the child a sharp blow, knocking him from the bench on which he was standing. Who acts: face, one, Ting. A sentence of «Gleanings from C
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
She was greatly interested in this child-singer as she had heard him leading the workmen, and what was her horror when she saw one of her servants go up and strike the child a sharp blow, knocking him from the bench on which he was standing.

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**Who acts:** face, one, Ting · **What happens:** be, hear, lead, see, go up, strike · **To what, where:** child singer, Ting, workmen, horror, child, bench · **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 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (face, one, Ting), 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:pg75089:19:17
# text = She was greatly interested in this child-singer as she had heard him leading the workmen, and what was her horror when she saw one of her servants go up and strike the child a sharp blow, knocking him from the bench on which he was standing.
1	She	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	greatly	greatly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	interested	interested	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	9	det	_	_
7	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	singer	singer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	leading	lead	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	workmen	workman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	23	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
22	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	horror	horror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
24	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	26	advmod	_	_
25	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nsubj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	_
31	go	go	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	ccomp	_	_
32	up	up	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	strike	strike	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	conj	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
41	knocking	knock	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	34	advcl	_	_
42	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	from	from	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	bench	bench	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
46	on	on	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
47	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	50	obl	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
49	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
50	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	45	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | face |  |  | this child singer |  | greatly, interested *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | past · perfect | face | Ting |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 3 | **lead** | gerund | face *not said here* | the workmen |  |  |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent workman=Theme |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | face's horror |  |  |  | what *nsubj*; face *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 5 | **see** | past | face |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **go up** | present | one of face's servants |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 7 | **strike** | infinitive | one of face's servants *not said here* | the child |  |  |  | a sharp blow *obj* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP ADJP»: agent=Agent child=Patient blow=Result |
| 8 | **knock** | gerund | one of face's servants *not said here* | Ting |  |  |  | from the bench | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent he=Patient from bench=Co-Patient |
| 9 | **stand** | past · progressive | Ting |  |  | the bench |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on which=Location |

<!-- .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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