--- title: The servants all urged her and plead with her; showed her the boxes… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics description: The servants all urged her and plead with her; showed her the boxes of garments, the silver sent for the journey; praised the beautiful home waiting for her, told of the kind old people, and most charming younger sister. Who acts: servants, silver, beautiful home, most. A sentence of «Gleanings from --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/21/) [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/) / 21 # Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 4, sentence 21 The servants all urged her and plead with her; showed her the boxes of garments, the silver sent for the journey; praised the beautiful home waiting for her, told of the kind old people, and most charming younger sister. **Who acts:** servants, silver, beautiful home, most · **What happens:** urge, plead, show, send, praise, wait · **To what, where:** Yü, boxes, beautiful home, younger sister · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (servants, silver, beautiful home, most), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg75089:20:21 # text = The servants all urged her and plead with her; showed her the boxes of garments, the silver sent for the journey; praised the beautiful home waiting for her, told of the kind old people, and most charming younger sister. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 servants servant NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 nsubj _ _ 3 all all ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 urged urge VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 iobj _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 7 plead plead VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 8 with with ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 10 ; ; PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 11 showed show VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 12 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 iobj _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 boxes box NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obj _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 garments garment NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 silver silver NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nsubj _ _ 20 sent send VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 21 for for ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 journey journey NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 ; ; PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 25 praised praise VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 27 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 home home NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ _ 29 waiting wait VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 28 acl _ _ 30 for for ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 33 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 parataxis _ _ 34 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 36 kind kind ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 37 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 41 most most ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 42 nsubj _ _ 42 charming charm VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 33 advcl _ _ 43 younger young ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 44 amod _ _ 44 sister sister NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **urge** | past | the servants | | Yü | | | all *property* | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient | | 2 | **plead** *speech: request* | present | the servants *not said here* | | | | | with Yü | tree rules | | 3 | **show** | past | the servants *not said here* | the boxes of garments | Yü | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent she=Recipient box=Topic | | 4 | **send** | past | the silver | | | | | for the journey | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **praise** | past | the servants *not said here* | the beautiful home | | | | | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent home=Theme | | 6 | **wait** | gerund | the beautiful home *not said here* | | | | | for Yü | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | | | | | | of the kind old people | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **charm** | gerund | most | younger sister | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus sister=Experiencer | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/20/) - next →: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/22/) - ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/)