Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Three Thieves., sentence 38
In spite of all these precautions, however, I was able by my skill to take the food from each dish as it was placed upon the table, before the Emperor had time to partake of more than a very few mouthfuls.
Who acts: I, Emperor · What happens: be, take, place, have, partake, spite · To what, where: spite, food, dish, table, precautions
This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Three Thieves.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, Emperor), 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 | In | in | ADP | _ | 2 spite | case |
| 2 | spite | spite | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 able | obl |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 6 precautions | case |
| 4 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 6 precautions | det:predet |
| 5 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 6 precautions | det |
| 6 | precautions | precaution | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 spite | nmod |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 spite | punct |
| 8 | however | however | ADV | _ | 12 able | advmod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 however | punct |
| 10 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 12 able | nsubj |
| 11 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 able | cop |
| 12 | able | able | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 13 | by | by | ADP | _ | 15 skill | case |
| 14 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 skill | nmod:poss |
| 15 | skill | skill | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 able | obl |
| 16 | to | to | PART | _ | 17 take | mark |
| 17 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 12 able | xcomp |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 food | det |
| 19 | food | food | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 take | obj |
| 20 | from | from | ADP | _ | 22 dish | case |
| 21 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 22 dish | det |
| 22 | dish | dish | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 take | obl |
| 23 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 26 placed | mark |
| 24 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 placed | nsubj:pass |
| 25 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 placed | aux:pass |
| 26 | placed | place | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 17 take | advcl |
| 27 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 29 table | case |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 table | det |
| 29 | table | table | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 placed | obl |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 had | punct |
| 31 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 34 had | mark |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 Emperor | det |
| 33 | Emperor | Emperor | PROPN | Number=Sing | 34 had | nsubj |
| 34 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 placed | conj |
| 35 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 had | obj |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 partake | mark |
| 37 | partake | partake | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 35 time | acl |
| 38 | of | of | ADP | _ | 39 more | case |
| 39 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 37 partake | obl |
| 40 | than | than | ADP | _ | 44 mouthfuls | case |
| 41 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 44 mouthfuls | det |
| 42 | very | very | ADV | _ | 43 few | advmod |
| 43 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 mouthfuls | amod |
| 44 | mouthfuls | mouthful | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 more | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 12 able | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | I | spite of all precautions | by my skill; able, however property | tree rules | |||
| 2 | take | to-infinitive | I not said here | the food | each dish | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent food=Theme from dish=Initial_Location | |||
| 3 | place | past · passive | food | the table | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: subject=Theme upon table=Destination | ||||
| 4 | have | past | the Emperor | time | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | partake | to-infinitive | the Emperor not said here | of more than a few mouthfuls | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | spite | all precautions | nom spite «feeling transitive»: of=patient |
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: «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, Project Gutenberg book 75000 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
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