The grateful elephant, Opening, part 2, sentence 36
This, of course, was a comparatively easy matter, for the Future Buddha, in his previous states of existence, was believed to have exhibited the qualities of wisdom, courage, and generosity, and there are few of the stories in which at least one of the characters does not exhibit one or another of these qualities.
Who acts: This, few · What happens: be, believe, exhibit, not exhibit · To what, where: easy matter, qualities, one
This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, few), 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 | This | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 10 matter | nsubj |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 This | punct |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 course | case |
| 4 | course | course | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 This | nmod |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 This | punct |
| 6 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 10 matter | cop |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 matter | det |
| 8 | comparatively | comparatively | ADV | _ | 9 easy | advmod |
| 9 | easy | easy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 matter | amod |
| 10 | matter | matter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 believed | nsubj:pass |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 Buddha | punct |
| 12 | for | for | ADP | _ | 15 Buddha | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 Buddha | det |
| 14 | Future | Future | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 Buddha | compound |
| 15 | Buddha | Buddha | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 matter | appos |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 states | punct |
| 17 | in | in | ADP | _ | 20 states | case |
| 18 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 20 states | nmod:poss |
| 19 | previous | previous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 states | amod |
| 20 | states | state | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 Buddha | conj |
| 21 | of | of | ADP | _ | 22 existence | case |
| 22 | existence | existence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 states | nmod |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 matter | punct |
| 24 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 believed | aux:pass |
| 25 | believed | believe | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 26 | to | to | PART | _ | 28 exhibited | mark |
| 27 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 28 exhibited | aux |
| 28 | exhibited | exhibit | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 25 believed | xcomp |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 qualities | det |
| 30 | qualities | quality | NOUN | Number=Plur | 28 exhibited | obj |
| 31 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 wisdom | case |
| 32 | wisdom | wisdom | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 qualities | nmod |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 courage | punct |
| 34 | courage | courage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 qualities | conj |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 generosity | punct |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 generosity | cc |
| 37 | generosity | generosity | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 believed | parataxis |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 41 are | punct |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 41 are | cc |
| 40 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 41 are | expl |
| 41 | are | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 25 believed | conj |
| 42 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 56 exhibit | nsubj |
| 43 | of | of | ADP | _ | 45 stories | case |
| 44 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 stories | det |
| 45 | stories | story | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 few | nmod |
| 46 | in | in | ADP | _ | 47 which | case |
| 47 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 50 one | obl |
| 48 | at | at | ADP | _ | 49 least | case |
| 49 | least | least | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 50 one | nmod |
| 50 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 45 stories | appos |
| 51 | of | of | ADP | _ | 53 characters | case |
| 52 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 53 characters | det |
| 53 | characters | character | NOUN | Number=Plur | 50 one | nmod |
| 54 | does | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 56 exhibit | aux |
| 55 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 56 exhibit | advmod |
| 56 | exhibit | exhibit | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 41 are | ccomp |
| 57 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 56 exhibit | obj |
| 58 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 59 another | cc |
| 59 | another | another | DET | PronType=Ind | 57 one | nmod |
| 60 | of | of | ADP | _ | 62 qualities | case |
| 61 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 62 qualities | det |
| 62 | qualities | quality | NOUN | Number=Plur | 59 another | nmod |
| 63 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 25 believed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | This of course | a easy matter | the Future Buddha and Buddha's previous states of existence appos | tree rules | |||
| 2 | believe | past · passive | a easy matter | generosity parataxis | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | exhibit | to-infinitive · perfect | the qualities of wisdom and courage | vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent quality=Theme | |||||
| 4 | be | present | there | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | not exhibit | present · do-support | few of the stories | one another of this qualities | vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=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 grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Project Gutenberg book 74064 (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/pg74064/2/36/