Folk tales from Tibet, The Country of the Mice., sentence 12
King,” replied the Mouse, “you must know that this year our crops have fallen short, and we are threatened with a famine unless we can borrow sufficient grain to carry us through the winter; so I, who am King of the Mice, have come here to ask you if you can help us in this matter.
Who acts: King, you, we, I · What happens: reply, know, fall, threaten, borrow, carry · To what, where: Mouse, crops, we, sufficient grain, us, King · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Country of the Mice.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, you, we, I), 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 | King | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 replied | nsubj |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 King | punct |
| 3 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 1 King | punct |
| 4 | replied | reply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 Mouse | det |
| 6 | Mouse | mouse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 replied | obj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 know | punct |
| 8 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 know | punct |
| 9 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 11 know | nsubj |
| 10 | must | must | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 11 know | aux |
| 11 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 replied | conj |
| 12 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 18 fallen | mark |
| 13 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 14 year | det |
| 14 | year | year | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 fallen | obl:unmarked |
| 15 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 crops | nmod:poss |
| 16 | crops | crop | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 fallen | nsubj:pass |
| 17 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 18 fallen | aux |
| 18 | fallen | fall | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 11 know | ccomp |
| 19 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 fallen | xcomp |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 threatened | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 threatened | cc |
| 22 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 24 threatened | nsubj |
| 23 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 24 threatened | aux:pass |
| 24 | threatened | threaten | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 4 replied | conj |
| 25 | with | with | ADP | _ | 27 famine | case |
| 26 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 27 famine | det |
| 27 | famine | famine | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 threatened | obl |
| 28 | unless | unless | SCONJ | _ | 31 borrow | mark |
| 29 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 31 borrow | nsubj |
| 30 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 31 borrow | aux |
| 31 | borrow | borrow | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 24 threatened | advcl |
| 32 | sufficient | sufficient | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 grain | amod |
| 33 | grain | grain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 borrow | obj |
| 34 | to | to | PART | _ | 35 carry | mark |
| 35 | carry | carry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 borrow | advcl |
| 36 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 35 carry | obj |
| 37 | through | through | ADP | _ | 39 winter | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 winter | det |
| 39 | winter | winter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 carry | obl |
| 40 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 52 come | punct |
| 41 | so | so | ADV | _ | 52 come | advmod |
| 42 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 52 come | nsubj |
| 43 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 46 King | punct |
| 44 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 46 King | nsubj |
| 45 | am | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 46 King | cop |
| 46 | King | King | PROPN | Number=Sing | 52 come | obl |
| 47 | of | of | ADP | _ | 49 Mice | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 Mice | det |
| 49 | Mice | mouse | NOUN | Number=Plur | 52 come | obl |
| 50 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 49 Mice | punct |
| 51 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 52 come | aux |
| 52 | come | come | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 4 replied | parataxis |
| 53 | here | here | ADV | PronType=Dem | 52 come | advmod |
| 54 | to | to | PART | _ | 55 ask | mark |
| 55 | ask | ask | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 52 come | advcl |
| 56 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 55 ask | iobj |
| 57 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 60 help | mark |
| 58 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 60 help | nsubj |
| 59 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 60 help | aux |
| 60 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 55 ask | advcl |
| 61 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 60 help | obj |
| 62 | in | in | ADP | _ | 64 matter | case |
| 63 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 64 matter | det |
| 64 | matter | matter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 60 help | obl |
| 65 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 replied | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reply speech: assert in a quote | past | King | the Mouse | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | know | must | you | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 3 | fall | present · perfect · passive | our crops | year | short property | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: subject=Result | |||
| 4 | threaten | present · passive | we | with a famine | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer | ||||
| 5 | borrow a condition, not said to happen | can | we | sufficient grain | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grain=Theme | ||||
| 6 | carry | to-infinitive | we not said here | us | winter | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=Theme | |||
| 7 | is a | present | King | who nsubj | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | come | present · perfect | I | here | of the Mice | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme of mouse=Initial_Location | |||
| 9 | ask speech: ask | to-infinitive | I not said here | you | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient | ||||
| 10 | help a condition, not said to happen | can | you | us | this matter | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=Beneficiary |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/20/12/