The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 3, sentence 84
It was a hot afternoon and all the Princesses fell asleep, and then the Rajah stole away and left them, saying to himself, “It is better that my poor daughters die here rather than be killed by their stepmother.”
Who acts: rice, Princesses, Rajah, poor daughters, stepmother · What happens: be, fall, steal away, leave, say, die · To what, where: hot afternoon, Princesses, Rajah · 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 (rice, Princesses, Rajah, poor daughters), 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 | 5 afternoon | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 afternoon | cop |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 5 afternoon | det |
| 4 | hot | hot | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 afternoon | amod |
| 5 | afternoon | afternoon | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 10 fell | cc |
| 7 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 9 Princesses | det:predet |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 Princesses | det |
| 9 | Princesses | Princess | PROPN | Number=Plur | 10 fell | nsubj |
| 10 | fell | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 afternoon | conj |
| 11 | asleep | asleep | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 fell | xcomp |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 stole | punct |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 stole | cc |
| 14 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 17 stole | advmod |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 Rajah | det |
| 16 | Rajah | Rajah | PROPN | Number=Sing | 17 stole | nsubj |
| 17 | stole | steal | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 fell | conj |
| 18 | away | away | ADV | _ | 17 stole | advmod |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 left | cc |
| 20 | left | leave | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 stole | conj |
| 21 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 left | obj |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 saying | punct |
| 23 | saying | say | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 20 left | advcl |
| 24 | to | to | ADP | _ | 25 himself | case |
| 25 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 23 saying | obl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 better | punct |
| 27 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 30 better | punct |
| 28 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 better | expl |
| 29 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 30 better | cop |
| 30 | better | good | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 23 saying | ccomp |
| 31 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 35 die | mark |
| 32 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 34 daughters | nmod:poss |
| 33 | poor | poor | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 daughters | amod |
| 34 | daughters | daughter | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 die | nsubj |
| 35 | die | die | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 30 better | advcl |
| 36 | here | here | ADV | PronType=Dem | 35 die | advmod |
| 37 | rather | rather | ADV | ExtPos=CCONJ | 40 killed | cc |
| 38 | than | than | ADP | _ | 37 rather | fixed |
| 39 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 40 killed | aux:pass |
| 40 | killed | kill | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 35 die | conj |
| 41 | by | by | ADP | _ | 43 stepmother | case |
| 42 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 43 stepmother | nmod:poss |
| 43 | stepmother | stepmother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 killed | obl |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 afternoon | punct |
| 45 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 5 afternoon | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | rice | a hot afternoon | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | fall | past | all Princesses | asleep property | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | steal away | past | the Rajah | then | away property | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||
| 4 | leave | past | the Rajah not said here | Princesses = princess | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | ||||
| 5 | say speech: assert | gerund | the Rajah not said here | Rajah | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient | ||||
| 6 | is in a quote | present | good property | tree rules | |||||
| 7 | die in a quote | present | my poor daughters | here | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | ||||
| 8 | kill in a quote | infinitive · passive | daughters's stepmother | 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/pg65965/3/84/