---
title: In a little while she knew something of their personal history and,… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: In a little while she knew something of their personal history and, before most hostesses could have gotten beyond the merest conventionalities, she was touching, tenderly, the sore spot in some life, with words of help and healing. Who acts: Russell. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» 
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Nellie N. Russell, sentence 88

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In a little while she knew something of their personal history and, before most hostesses could have gotten beyond the merest conventionalities, she was touching, tenderly, the sore spot in some life, with words of help and healing.

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**Who acts:** Russell · **What happens:** know, get, touch, word · **To what, where:** something, most hostesses, sore spot, help

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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 (Russell), 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:pg75089:3:88
# text = In a little while she knew something of their personal history and, before most hostesses could have gotten beyond the merest conventionalities, she was touching, tenderly, the sore spot in some life, with words of help and healing.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	_
7	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	6	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
9	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	personal	personal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	history	history	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
15	most	most	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	16	amod	_	_
16	hostesses	hostess	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux	_	_
19	gotten	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
20	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	merest	mere	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	23	amod	_	_
23	conventionalities	conventionality	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	touching	touch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	tenderly	tenderly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	sore	sore	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	36	det	_	_
36	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
43	healing	healing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | Russell | something of groups's personal history |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer something=Stimulus |
| 2 | **get** | could · perfect · passive |  | most hostesses |  |  |  | beyond the merest conventionalities | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **touch** | past · progressive | Russell | the sore spot in some life |  |  |  | with words of help and healing | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **word** |  |  | help and healing |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: of=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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