---
title: It seemed a large undertaking for two inexperienced young women to g… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: It seemed a large undertaking for two inexperienced young women to go from the little village of Northfield to the great city of Chicago, and to engage in such a work. Who acts: It. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Nellie N. Russell, with its dependency tree a
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Nellie N. Russell, sentence 34

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It seemed a large undertaking for two inexperienced young women to go from the little village of Northfield to the great city of Chicago, and to engage in such a work.

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**Who acts:** It · **What happens:** seem, undertake, go, engage · **To what, where:** little village, work

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Nellie N. Russell. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It), 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:pg75089:3:34
# text = It seemed a large undertaking for two inexperienced young women to go from the little village of Northfield to the great city of Chicago, and to engage in such a work.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	xcomp	_	_
5	undertaking	undertake	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
7	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
8	inexperienced	inexperienced	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	village	village	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	Northfield	Northfield	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	Chicago	Chicago	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	engage	engage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	conj	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	32	det:predet	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | It |  |  |  |  | large *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **undertake** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | for two inexperienced young women | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **go** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | the little village of Northfield |  | to the great city of Chicago | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme from village=Initial\_Location to city=Destination |
| 4 | **engage** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | in such work *goal* | vn involve-107.1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent in work=Goal |

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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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