---
title: These she at first refused, but at last, to satisfy them, as she kne… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: These she at first refused, but at last, to satisfy them, as she knew that the servants would suffer if she did not, she said: Who acts: These, latter, servants. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/33/)

<!-- 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/) / 33

# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 4, sentence 33

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
These she at first refused, but at last, to satisfy them, as she knew that the servants would suffer if she did not, she said:

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** These, latter, servants · **What happens:** refuse, satisfy, know, suffer, not do, say · **To what, where:** garments · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .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 (These, latter, servants), 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:pg75089:20:33
# text = These she at first refused, but at last, to satisfy them, as she knew that the servants would suffer if she did not, she said:
1	These	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	5	nsubj	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	obl	_	_
5	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	satisfy	satisfy	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
21	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	suffer	suffer	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	ccomp	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	25	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
28	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **refuse** | past | These |  |  |  |  | latter *nsubj* | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **satisfy** | to-infinitive |  | garments *= garment* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |
| 3 | **know** | past | latter |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **suffer** | would | the servants |  |  |  |  |  | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **not** **do** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | latter |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | latter |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

<!-- .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 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/32/)
- next →: [sentence 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/34/)
- ↑ back to [A Story of Old China, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/)