---
title: All this time the poor little sparrow was trembling with rage, and s… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: All this time the poor little sparrow was trembling with rage, and so great was it that she could not fly away nor keep her hold on the branch of the tree, and so she fell to the ground, and thus she died. Who acts: poor little sparrow, proverb. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nel
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, sentence 49

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All this time the poor little sparrow was trembling with rage, and so great was it that she could not fly away nor keep her hold on the branch of the tree, and so she fell to the ground, and thus she died.

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**Who acts:** poor little sparrow, proverb · **What happens:** tremble, be, not fly away, keep, fall, die · **To what, where:** rage, hold, branch

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (poor little sparrow, proverb), 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:pg75089:8:49
# text = All this time the poor little sparrow was trembling with rage, and so great was it that she could not fly away nor keep her hold on the branch of the tree, and so she fell to the ground, and thus she died.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
5	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
6	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	sparrow	sparrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	trembling	tremble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
10	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	rage	rage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
23	away	away	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	25	cc	_	_
25	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
26	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	so	so	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
37	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
38	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	parataxis	_	_
39	to	to	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
44	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
45	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tremble** | past · progressive | the poor little sparrow |  |  |  | time | with rage | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | rage |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **fly away** | could | proverb |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **keep** | infinitive | proverb *not said here* | proverb's hold |  | the branch of the tree |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent hold=Theme on branch=Location |
| 5 | **fall** | past | proverb |  |  |  |  | to the ground | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to ground=Theme |
| 6 | **die** | past | proverb |  |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 7 | **hold** |  | proverb |  |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: poss=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.

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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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