---
title: He read as in a dream the entire paper; he saw, as one thing after a… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: He read as in a dream the entire paper; he saw, as one thing after another came before his mind, how for years he had been a tool of his minister, Yen Sung. Who acts: Ting, one thing. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 4, with its depe
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/102/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Gleanings from Chinese folklore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/) / [A Story of Old China, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/) / 102

# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 4, sentence 102

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He read as in a dream the entire paper; he saw, as one thing after another came before his mind, how for years he had been a tool of his minister, Yen Sung.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Ting, one thing · **What happens:** read, see, come, be, mind · **To what, where:** entire paper, mind, tool

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ting, one thing), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75089:20:102
# text = He read as in a dream the entire paper; he saw, as one thing after another came before his mind, how for years he had been a tool of his minister, Yen Sung.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	read	read	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	as	as	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	dream	dream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	entire	entire	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
15	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nummod	_	_
16	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
17	after	after	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	nmod	_	_
19	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
20	before	before	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
24	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	31	advmod	_	_
25	for	for	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	31	cop	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	tool	tool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	minister	minister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	Yen	Yen	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	conj	_	_
37	Sung	Sung	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **read** | past | Ting | the entire paper |  |  |  | as a dream | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer paper=Stimulus as dream=Attribute |
| 2 | **see** | past | Ting |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **come** | past | one thing after another |  |  | Ting's mind |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before mind=Location |
| 4 | **is a** | past · perfect | Ting | a tool and Yen |  |  | year | of Ting's minister; Yen *conj* | tree rules |
| 5 | **mind** |  | Ting |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 101](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/101/)
- next →: [sentence 103](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/103/)
- ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/)