The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 16, sentence 7
Then Sin asked why a fish should enjoy the water more than a man, and the fish replied that a man would like to swim and dive for a little while, but his ugly limbs, which made him look like a frog, would soon tire.
Who acts: Sin, fish, man, ugly limbs · What happens: ask, enjoy, reply, like, swim, dive · To what, where: water, ugly limbs · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (Sin, fish, man, ugly limbs), 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 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 asked | advmod |
| 2 | Sin | Sin | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 asked | nsubj |
| 3 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 8 enjoy | advmod |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 fish | det |
| 6 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 enjoy | nsubj |
| 7 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 8 enjoy | aux |
| 8 | enjoy | enjoy | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 asked | ccomp |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 water | det |
| 10 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 enjoy | obj |
| 11 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 8 enjoy | obj |
| 12 | than | than | ADP | _ | 14 man | case |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 man | det |
| 14 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 more | obl |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 replied | punct |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 replied | cc |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 fish | det |
| 18 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 replied | nsubj |
| 19 | replied | reply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 asked | parataxis |
| 20 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 24 like | mark |
| 21 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 22 man | det |
| 22 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 like | nsubj |
| 23 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 24 like | aux |
| 24 | like | like | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 replied | ccomp |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 26 swim | mark |
| 26 | swim | swim | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 like | xcomp |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 dive | cc |
| 28 | dive | dive | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 swim | conj |
| 29 | for | for | ADP | _ | 32 while | case |
| 30 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 32 while | det |
| 31 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 while | amod |
| 32 | while | while | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 dive | obl |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 made | punct |
| 34 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 40 made | cc |
| 35 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 37 limbs | nmod:poss |
| 36 | ugly | ugly | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 37 limbs | amod |
| 37 | limbs | limb | NOUN | Number=Plur | 40 made | obl |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 made | punct |
| 39 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 40 made | nsubj |
| 40 | made | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 asked | conj |
| 41 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 made | obj |
| 42 | look | look | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 40 made | xcomp |
| 43 | like | like | ADP | _ | 45 frog | case |
| 44 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 45 frog | det |
| 45 | frog | frog | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 look | obl |
| 46 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 49 tire | punct |
| 47 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 49 tire | aux |
| 48 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 49 tire | advmod |
| 49 | tire | tire | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 42 look | conj |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 asked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ask speech: ask | past | Sin | then | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | enjoy | should | a fish | the water | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | reply speech: assert | past | the fish | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | like | would | a man | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 5 | swim not said to happen | to-infinitive | a man not said here | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 6 | dive | infinitive | a man not said here | while | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | ||||
| 7 | make | past | man's ugly limbs | which nsubj; man obj | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | look | infinitive | man's ugly limbs not said here | like a frog | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | ||||
| 9 | tire | would | man's ugly limbs not said here | soon property | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
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/pg65965/16/7/