---
title: We had thought that few American or English friends could be present… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: We had thought that few American or English friends could be present at this time of year, when the foreign residents are away from the city, but we were mistaken. Who acts: We, few American friends, foreign residents. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Miss Rus
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Miss Russell’s Funeral Service, sentence 18

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We had thought that few American or English friends could be present at this time of year, when the foreign residents are away from the city, but we were mistaken.

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**Who acts:** We, few American friends, foreign residents · **What happens:** think, be · **To what, where:** city · **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 (We, few American friends, foreign residents), 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:pg75089:5:18
# text = We had thought that few American or English friends could be present at this time of year, when the foreign residents are away from the city, but we were mistaken.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
5	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
6	American	American	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
7	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	English	English	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	_
9	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	cop	_	_
12	present	present	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	ccomp	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	det	_	_
15	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	year	year	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	24	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	foreign	foreign	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	residents	resident	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
23	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
25	from	from	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
32	mistaken	mistaken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past · perfect | We |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | could | few American friends |  |  |  | time | present *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | the foreign residents |  |  | the city |  | away *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | we |  |  |  |  | mistaken *property* | 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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