The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 16, sentence 23
It was rather uncomfortable at first, and he felt a gradual change coming over him; his arms grew smaller and smaller, and his hands became like fins; his legs and feet went together and took the form of a tail.
Who acts: skin, messenger, gradual change, arms, hands, legs · What happens: be, feel, come, grow, become, go together · To what, where: gradual change, form, tail
This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (skin, messenger, gradual change, arms), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 uncomfortable | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 uncomfortable | cop |
| 3 | rather | rather | ADV | _ | 4 uncomfortable | advmod |
| 4 | uncomfortable | uncomfortable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 5 | at | at | ADP | _ | 6 first | case |
| 6 | first | first | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 4 uncomfortable | obl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 felt | punct |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 10 felt | cc |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 felt | nsubj |
| 10 | felt | feel | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 uncomfortable | parataxis |
| 11 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 change | det |
| 12 | gradual | gradual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 change | amod |
| 13 | change | change | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 felt | obj |
| 14 | coming | come | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 13 change | acl |
| 15 | over | over | ADP | _ | 16 him | case |
| 16 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 coming | obl |
| 17 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 20 grew | punct |
| 18 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 arms | nmod:poss |
| 19 | arms | arm | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 grew | nsubj |
| 20 | grew | grow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 felt | conj |
| 21 | smaller | small | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 20 grew | xcomp |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 smaller | cc |
| 23 | smaller | small | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 21 smaller | conj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 became | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 became | cc |
| 26 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 hands | nmod:poss |
| 27 | hands | hand | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 became | nsubj |
| 28 | became | become | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 grew | conj |
| 29 | like | like | ADP | _ | 30 fins | case |
| 30 | fins | fin | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 became | obl |
| 31 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 36 went | punct |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 legs | nmod:poss |
| 33 | legs | leg | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 went | nsubj |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 feet | cc |
| 35 | feet | foot | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 legs | conj |
| 36 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 uncomfortable | parataxis |
| 37 | together | together | ADV | _ | 36 went | advmod |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 took | cc |
| 39 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 went | conj |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 form | det |
| 41 | form | form | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 took | obj |
| 42 | of | of | ADP | _ | 44 tail | case |
| 43 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 44 tail | det |
| 44 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 form | nmod |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 uncomfortable | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | skin | uncomfortable property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | feel | past | messenger | a gradual change | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent change=Theme | ||||
| 3 | come | gerund | a gradual change not said here | over messenger | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme over he=Initial_Location | ||||
| 4 | grow | past | messenger's arms | small property | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | become | past | messenger's hands | like fins | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 6 | go together | past | messenger's legs and feet | together property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 7 | take | past | messenger's legs and feet not said here | the form of a tail | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Theme | ||||
| 8 | form | a tail | nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient |
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.
Text: «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Project Gutenberg book 65965 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg65965/16/23/