The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 3, sentence 69
The cruel stepmother said to her daughter: “I don’t understand this; I have had the pomelo tree destroyed, and yet the Princesses are as well as ever, although they never eat the dinner I give them.
Who acts: cruel stepmother, pomelo tree, Princesses · What happens: say, not understand, have, destroy, be, not eat · To what, where: daughter, this, pomelo tree, dinner, Princesses · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cruel stepmother, pomelo tree, Princesses), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 stepmother | det |
| 2 | cruel | cruel | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 stepmother | amod |
| 3 | stepmother | stepmother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 said | nsubj |
| 4 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | ADP | _ | 7 daughter | case |
| 6 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 7 daughter | nmod:poss |
| 7 | daughter | daughter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 said | obl |
| 8 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 13 understand | punct |
| 9 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 13 understand | punct |
| 10 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 13 understand | nsubj |
| 11 | do | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 13 understand | aux |
| 12 | n’t | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 13 understand | advmod |
| 13 | understand | understand | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 said | parataxis |
| 14 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 13 understand | obj |
| 15 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 18 had | punct |
| 16 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 18 had | nsubj |
| 17 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 18 had | aux |
| 18 | had | have | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 13 understand | parataxis |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 tree | det |
| 20 | pomelo | pomelo | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 tree | compound |
| 21 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 had | obj |
| 22 | destroyed | destroy | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 18 had | xcomp |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 ever | punct |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 32 ever | cc |
| 25 | yet | yet | ADV | _ | 32 ever | advmod |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 Princesses | det |
| 27 | Princesses | Princess | PROPN | Number=Plur | 32 ever | nsubj |
| 28 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 32 ever | cop |
| 29 | as | as | ADV | ExtPos=CCONJ | 32 ever | cc |
| 30 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 29 as | fixed |
| 31 | as | as | ADP | _ | 29 as | fixed |
| 32 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 13 understand | advmod |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 eat | punct |
| 34 | although | although | SCONJ | _ | 37 eat | mark |
| 35 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 eat | nsubj |
| 36 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 37 eat | advmod |
| 37 | eat | eat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 13 understand | parataxis |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 dinner | det |
| 39 | dinner | dinner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 eat | obj |
| 40 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 41 give | nsubj |
| 41 | give | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 37 eat | conj |
| 42 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 give | iobj |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | the cruel stepmother | stepmother's daughter | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to daughter=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | not understand in a quote | present · do-support | the cruel stepmother = stepmother | this | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer this=Stimulus | ||||
| 3 | have in a quote | present · perfect | the cruel stepmother = stepmother | the pomelo tree | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | destroy in a quote | participle | the pomelo tree not said here | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | is in a quote | present | the Princesses | yet | ever property | tree rules | |||
| 6 | not eat in a quote | present | Princesses = princess | the dinner | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dinner=Patient | ||||
| 7 | give in a quote | present | the cruel stepmother = stepmother | Princesses = princess | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
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/pg65965/3/69/