---
title: When the Boxer storm began to gather, being so much in the country i… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: When the Boxer storm began to gather, being so much in the country in the winter of 1899 and 1900, she saw, as few did, the blackening clouds. Who acts: Boxer storm, storm, few. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Miss Nellie N. Russell’s Unique Work, with its de
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Miss Nellie N. Russell’s Unique Work, sentence 22

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When the Boxer storm began to gather, being so much in the country in the winter of 1899 and 1900, she saw, as few did, the blackening clouds.

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**Who acts:** Boxer storm, storm, few · **What happens:** begin, gather, be, see, do · **To what, where:** country, blackening clouds

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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 (Boxer storm, storm, few), 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:pg75089:4:22
# text = When the Boxer storm began to gather, being so much in the country in the winter of 1899 and 1900, she saw, as few did, the blackening clouds.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	Boxer	Boxer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	_
4	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	gather	gather	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	cop	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	much	much	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	1899	1899	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	17	nmod	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	1900	1900	NUM	CD	NumForm=Digit|NumType=Card	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	nsubj	_	_
28	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	blackening	blackening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	clouds	cloud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the Boxer storm |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **gather** | to-infinitive | the Boxer storm *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  | the country | winter |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **see** | past | storm |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **do** | past | few | the blackening clouds |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=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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