---
title: They were filled with terror, for never before had such a thing been… — Gleanings from Chinese folklore · tree and pragmatics
description: They were filled with terror, for never before had such a thing been seen or heard of. A sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Chinese Hero, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Chinese Hero, sentence 84

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They were filled with terror, for never before had such a thing been seen or heard of.

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**What happens:** fill, have, see, hear · **To what, where:** officers, thing

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This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Chinese Hero. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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:pg75089:9:84
# text = They were filled with terror, for never before had such a thing been seen or heard of.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	with	with	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	terror	terror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	before	before	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	13	det:predet	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	aux:pass	_	_
15	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	ccomp	_	_
16	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fill** | past · passive |  | officers *= officer* |  |  |  | with terror | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with terror=Instrument |
| 2 | **have** | past |  |  |  |  | never | before *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | participle · passive |  | such thing |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 4 | **hear** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |

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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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