---
title: To any who desired to follow her example she gave advice and help so… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: To any who desired to follow her example she gave advice and help so unobtrusively that it never seemed like criticism or an assumption of being wiser or better than they, but just ordinary neighbourliness. Who acts: Russell, it. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russel
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Nellie N. Russell, sentence 94

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To any who desired to follow her example she gave advice and help so unobtrusively that it never seemed like criticism or an assumption of being wiser or better than they, but just ordinary neighbourliness.

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**Who acts:** Russell, it · **What happens:** desire, follow, give, not seem, be, exemplify · **To what, where:** ordinary neighbourliness, example, advice

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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, 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:pg75089:3:94
# text = To any who desired to follow her example she gave advice and help so unobtrusively that it never seemed like criticism or an assumption of being wiser or better than they, but just ordinary neighbourliness.
1	To	to	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	obl	_	_
3	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	desired	desire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	example	example	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	acl:relcl	_	_
11	advice	advice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	unobtrusively	unobtrusively	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	_
20	like	like	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	criticism	criticism	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
22	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	assumption	assumption	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	27	cop	_	_
27	wiser	wise	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	24	conj	_	_
28	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	27	conj	_	_
30	than	than	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	just	just	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
35	ordinary	ordinary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	neighbourliness	neighbourliness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **desire** | past |  | ordinary neighbourliness |  |  |  | to any; who *nsubj* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **follow** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | Russell's example |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent example=Theme |
| 3 | **give** | past | Russell | advice and help |  |  |  | unobtrusively *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent advice=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  | like criticism or a assumption | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | than criticism; wise *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **exemplify** |  | Russell |  |  |  |  |  | nom example «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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