---
title: In English, he told us of the comfort sought by the dear friend in t… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: In English, he told us of the comfort sought by the dear friend in the Twenty-third Psalm, which she asked to have read to her the day before she left us. Who acts: English, Stelle. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Miss Russell’s Funeral Service, with its depe
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Miss Russell’s Funeral Service, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In English, he told us of the comfort sought by the dear friend in the Twenty-third Psalm, which she asked to have read to her the day before she left us.

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**Who acts:** English, Stelle · **What happens:** tell, seek, ask, read, leave · **To what, where:** us, English, comfort, third Psalm, Stelle · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Miss Russell’s Funeral Service. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (English, Stelle), 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:pg75089:5:11
# text = In English, he told us of the comfort sought by the dear friend in the Twenty-third Psalm, which she asked to have read to her the day before she left us.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	English	English	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	comfort	comfort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	sought	seek	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	dear	dear	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	friend	friend	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl:agent	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
17	Twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	third	third	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	20	amod	_	_
20	Psalm	Psalm	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	obj	_	_
23	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
26	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	aux	_	_
27	read	read	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	ccomp	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl:unmarked	_	_
32	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
35	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | English |  | us | English |  | of the comfort | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient |
| 2 | **seek** | participle |  | the comfort *not said here* |  | the third Psalm |  | the dear friend *obl:agent* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent in psalm=Location |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Stelle | the third Psalm |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S\_INF»: agent=Agent which=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 4 | **read** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive · perfect |  |  | Stelle |  | day |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent to she=Recipient |
| 5 | **leave** | past | Stelle | us |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=Theme |

<!-- .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.

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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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