The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 5, sentence 26
These tasks seemed to the old man to be so impossible of accomplishment that he didn’t like to take the messages, but the Princess refused to make any change in them, so he gave them to the knights word for word.
Who acts: tasks, man, Princess · What happens: seem, be, not like, take, refuse, not make · To what, where: messages, change, tasks
This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tasks, man, Princess), 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 | These | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 2 tasks | det |
| 2 | tasks | task | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 seemed | nsubj |
| 3 | seemed | seem | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | ADP | _ | 7 man | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 man | det |
| 6 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 man | amod |
| 7 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 seemed | obl |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 11 impossible | mark |
| 9 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 11 impossible | cop |
| 10 | so | so | ADV | _ | 11 impossible | advmod |
| 11 | impossible | impossible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 seemed | conj |
| 12 | of | of | ADP | _ | 13 accomplishment | case |
| 13 | accomplishment | accomplishment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 impossible | obl |
| 14 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 18 like | mark |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 like | nsubj |
| 16 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 like | aux |
| 17 | n’t | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 18 like | advmod |
| 18 | like | like | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 impossible | csubj |
| 19 | to | to | PART | _ | 20 take | mark |
| 20 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 like | xcomp |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 messages | det |
| 22 | messages | message | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 take | obj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 refused | punct |
| 24 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 27 refused | cc |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 Princess | det |
| 26 | Princess | Princess | PROPN | Number=Sing | 27 refused | nsubj |
| 27 | refused | refuse | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 seemed | conj |
| 28 | to | to | PART | _ | 29 make | mark |
| 29 | make | make | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 27 refused | xcomp |
| 30 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 31 change | det |
| 31 | change | change | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 make | obj |
| 32 | in | in | ADP | _ | 33 them | case |
| 33 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 make | obl |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 gave | punct |
| 35 | so | so | ADV | _ | 37 gave | advmod |
| 36 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 gave | nsubj |
| 37 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 seemed | conj |
| 38 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 gave | iobj |
| 39 | to | to | ADP | _ | 42 word | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 word | det |
| 41 | knights | knight | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 word | compound |
| 42 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 gave | obl |
| 43 | for | for | ADP | _ | 44 word | case |
| 44 | word | word | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 word | nmod |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 seemed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | seem | past | this tasks | to the old man | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | is | to-infinitive | this tasks not said here | of accomplishment; impossible property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | not like | past · do-support | man | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 4 | take not said to happen | to-infinitive | man not said here | the messages | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent message=Theme | ||||
| 5 | refuse | past | the Princess | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 6 | not make | to-infinitive | the Princess not said here | any change | in tasks = task | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset change=Product | |||
| 7 | give | past | man | tasks = task | to the knights word for word | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Theme to word=Recipient |
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/pg65965/5/26/