---
title: It was simplicity itself, but every nook and corner breathed the wom… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: It was simplicity itself, but every nook and corner breathed the woman,—home-maker,—and it was always open to her friends, Chinese and Western. Who acts: instinct, simplicity. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Miss Nellie N. Russell’s Unique Work, with its depe
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Miss Nellie N. Russell’s Unique Work, sentence 12

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It was simplicity itself, but every nook and corner breathed the woman,—home-maker,—and it was always open to her friends, Chinese and Western.

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**Who acts:** instinct, simplicity · **What happens:** be, breathe · **To what, where:** simplicity, woman

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Miss Nellie N. Russell’s Unique Work. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (instinct, simplicity), 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:pg75089:4:12
# text = It was simplicity itself, but every nook and corner breathed the woman,—home-maker,—and it was always open to her friends, Chinese and Western.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	simplicity	simplicity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:outer	_	_
4	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	3	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
7	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	nook	nook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	conj	_	_
11	breathed	breathe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	maker	maker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	25	advmod	_	_
25	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	parataxis	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	Chinese	Chinese	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	Western	western	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | instinct | simplicity |  |  |  | instinct *nmod:unmarked* | tree rules |
| 2 | **breathe** | past | simplicity | the woman |  |  |  | every nook and corner *nsubj* | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent woman=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | instinct |  |  |  |  | to simplicity's friends; always, open *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | instinct *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | instinct *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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