The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient, Opening, part 9, sentence 108
“My very humble thanks,” replied the Grand Vizier, as he bent his long neck; “but if I may venture to say so, your Highness is even handsomer as a stork than as a Caliph.
Who acts: humble thanks, thanks, Highness · What happens: reply, bend, venture, say, be · To what, where: Grand Vizier, long neck · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Jade Story Book; Stories from the Orient» by Penrhyn Wingfield Coussens, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (humble thanks, thanks, Highness), 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 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 replied | punct |
| 2 | My | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 thanks | nmod:poss |
| 3 | very | very | ADV | _ | 4 humble | advmod |
| 4 | humble | humble | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 thanks | amod |
| 5 | thanks | thanks | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 replied | nsubj |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 thanks | punct |
| 7 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 5 thanks | punct |
| 8 | replied | reply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 Vizier | det |
| 10 | Grand | Grand | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 Vizier | amod |
| 11 | Vizier | Vizier | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 replied | obj |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 bent | punct |
| 13 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 15 bent | mark |
| 14 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 bent | nsubj |
| 15 | bent | bend | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 replied | conj |
| 16 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 neck | nmod:poss |
| 17 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 neck | amod |
| 18 | neck | neck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 bent | obj |
| 19 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 25 venture | punct |
| 20 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 25 venture | punct |
| 21 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 25 venture | cc |
| 22 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 25 venture | mark |
| 23 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 25 venture | nsubj |
| 24 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 25 venture | aux |
| 25 | venture | venture | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 15 bent | conj |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 say | mark |
| 27 | say | say | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 venture | xcomp |
| 28 | so | so | ADV | _ | 34 handsomer | advmod |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 handsomer | punct |
| 30 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 31 Highness | nmod:poss |
| 31 | Highness | highness | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 handsomer | nsubj |
| 32 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 34 handsomer | cop |
| 33 | even | even | ADV | _ | 34 handsomer | advmod |
| 34 | handsomer | handsome | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 27 say | parataxis |
| 35 | as | as | ADP | _ | 37 stork | case |
| 36 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 37 stork | det |
| 37 | stork | stork | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 handsomer | obl |
| 38 | than | than | ADP | _ | 41 Caliph | case |
| 39 | as | as | ADP | _ | 41 Caliph | case |
| 40 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 41 Caliph | det |
| 41 | Caliph | Caliph | PROPN | Number=Sing | 34 handsomer | obl |
| 42 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 replied | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reply speech: assert | past | My humble thanks | the Grand Vizier | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent vizier=Topic | ||||
| 2 | bend | past | thanks | thanks's long neck | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent neck=Material | ||||
| 3 | venture a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | may | My humble thanks = thanks | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | say speech: assert in a quote | to-infinitive | My humble thanks = thanks not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | is in a quote | present | your Highness | as a stork; than a Caliph; handsome property | tree rules |
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/pg65965/9/108/