---
title: Great was his surprise that his little daughter had saved him, and i… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: Great was his surprise that his little daughter had saved him, and it was with difficulty they convinced him of the truth of her story. Who acts: little daughter, surprise, daughters. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Daughter of the Orient, with its dependen
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Daughter of the Orient, sentence 39

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Great was his surprise that his little daughter had saved him, and it was with difficulty they convinced him of the truth of her story.

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**Who acts:** little daughter, surprise, daughters · **What happens:** be, save, convince · **To what, where:** Great surprise, father

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Daughter of the Orient. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little daughter, surprise, daughters), 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:pg75089:7:39
# text = Great was his surprise that his little daughter had saved him, and it was with difficulty they convinced him of the truth of her story.
1	Great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	saved	save	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	acl:relcl	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	difficulty	difficulty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	appos	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	convinced	convince	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | father's Great surprise |  |  |  | father *nmod:poss* | tree rules |
| 2 | **save** | past · perfect | father's little daughter | father |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | surprise |  |  |  |  | with difficulty | tree rules |
| 4 | **convince** | past | daughters *= daughter* | father |  |  |  | of the truth of Glory's story | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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