---
title: There was something in her nature that compelled her to have things… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: There was something in her nature that compelled her to have things suitable if possible, and she at once felt the dress that other foreigners wore would meet with greater acceptance in Peking. Who acts: something, simplicity, other foreigners. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nell
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/4/21/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Gleanings from Chinese folklore](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/) / [Miss Nellie N. Russell’s Unique Work](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/4/) / 21

# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Miss Nellie N. Russell’s Unique Work, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was something in her nature that compelled her to have things suitable if possible, and she at once felt the dress that other foreigners wore would meet with greater acceptance in Peking.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** something, simplicity, other foreigners · **What happens:** be, compel, have, feel, wear, meet · **To what, where:** simplicity, things, dress

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (something, simplicity, other foreigners), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75089:4:21
# text = There was something in her nature that compelled her to have things suitable if possible, and she at once felt the dress that other foreigners wore would meet with greater acceptance in Peking.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	2	nsubj	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	nature	nature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	compelled	compel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
9	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	advcl	_	_
12	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
13	suitable	suitable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	xcomp	_	_
14	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
15	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	21	obl	_	_
21	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	dress	dress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	obj	_	_
25	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	foreigners	foreigner	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	_
27	wore	wear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	meet	meet	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	greater	great	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	32	amod	_	_
32	acceptance	acceptance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	Peking	Peking	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | something in simplicity's nature |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **compel** | past |  | simplicity |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Patient |
| 3 | **have** | to-infinitive |  | things |  |  |  | suitable *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Patient |
| 4 | **feel** | past | simplicity | the dress |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent dress=Theme at once=Location |
| 5 | **wear** | past | other foreigners | the dress |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **meet** | would | other foreigners *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with greater acceptance in Peking | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with acceptance=Co-Agent |

<!-- .note -->
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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/4/20/)
- next →: [sentence 22](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/4/22/)
- ↑ back to [Miss Nellie N. Russell’s Unique Work](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/4/)