---
title: Year by year his power had grown until the Emperor was almost a figu… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Year by year his power had grown until the Emperor was almost a figurehead and hated him, yet no one dared to impeach him. Who acts: Emperor, one. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 4, sentence 54

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Year by year his power had grown until the Emperor was almost a figurehead and hated him, yet no one dared to impeach him.

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**Who acts:** Emperor, one · **What happens:** grow, be, hate, dare, impeach · **To what, where:** power, figurehead, enemy

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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 (Emperor, one), 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:pg75089:20:54
# text = Year by year his power had grown until the Emperor was almost a figurehead and hated him, yet no one dared to impeach him.
1	Year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
2	by	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Emperor	Emperor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
12	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	figurehead	figurehead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	xcomp	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	hated	hate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	21	det	_	_
21	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	dared	dare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	impeach	impeach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past · perfect · passive |  | enemy's power |  |  | year |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the Emperor | a figurehead |  |  |  | almost *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **hate** | past |  | enemy |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 4 | **dare** | past | no one |  |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **impeach** | to-infinitive | no one *not said here* | enemy |  |  |  |  | vn prosecute-33.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

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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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