The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 4, sentence 62
There were many thousands of them, so that it would have been impossible for anyone to walk through their ranks, but they had not thought that an attempt to reach the spot could be made from above.
Who acts: many thousands, circle · What happens: be, walk, not think, reach, make · To what, where: ranks, trees, spot, attempt
This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (many thousands, circle), 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 | There | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 2 were | expl |
| 2 | were | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 thousands | amod |
| 4 | thousands | thousand | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 were | nsubj |
| 5 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 them | case |
| 6 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 thousands | nmod |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 impossible | punct |
| 8 | so | so | ADV | _ | 14 impossible | advmod |
| 9 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 14 impossible | mark |
| 10 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 impossible | nsubj |
| 11 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 14 impossible | aux |
| 12 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 14 impossible | aux |
| 13 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 14 impossible | cop |
| 14 | impossible | impossible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 were | parataxis |
| 15 | for | for | ADP | _ | 16 anyone | case |
| 16 | anyone | anyone | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 14 impossible | obl |
| 17 | to | to | PART | _ | 18 walk | mark |
| 18 | walk | walk | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 impossible | advcl |
| 19 | through | through | ADP | _ | 21 ranks | case |
| 20 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 ranks | nmod:poss |
| 21 | ranks | rank | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 walk | obl |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 thought | punct |
| 23 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 27 thought | cc |
| 24 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 thought | nsubj:pass |
| 25 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 thought | aux |
| 26 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 27 thought | advmod |
| 27 | thought | think | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 were | conj |
| 28 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 37 made | mark |
| 29 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 30 attempt | det |
| 30 | attempt | attempt | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 made | nsubj:pass |
| 31 | to | to | PART | _ | 32 reach | mark |
| 32 | reach | reach | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 attempt | acl |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 spot | det |
| 34 | spot | spot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 reach | obj |
| 35 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 37 made | aux |
| 36 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 37 made | aux:pass |
| 37 | made | make | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 27 thought | advcl |
| 38 | from | from | ADP | _ | 39 above | case |
| 39 | above | above | ADV | _ | 37 made | obl |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 were | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | be | past | many thousands of trees | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | is | would · perfect | circle | for anyone; impossible property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | walk | to-infinitive | circle not said here | trees's ranks | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through rank=Trajectory | ||||
| 4 | not think speech: other | past · perfect · passive | trees = tree | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 5 | reach | to-infinitive | the spot | vn body_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent spot=Theme | |||||
| 6 | make | could · passive | a attempt | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V PP»: subject=Product from above=Material |
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/pg65965/4/62/