Gleanings from Chinese folklore, The Jade Treasure, sentence 49
The Prince of Chin was afraid the jade would either be injured or destroyed if a struggle for possession took place, so he caused the minister to be locked in his rooms until he should willingly give it up.
Who acts: Prince, struggle · What happens: be, injure, destroy, take, cause, lock · To what, where: jade, place, minister, rooms
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Jade Treasure. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Prince, struggle), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 Prince | det |
| 2 | Prince | Prince | PROPN | Number=Sing | 6 afraid | nsubj |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 Chin | case |
| 4 | Chin | Chin | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 Prince | nmod |
| 5 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 afraid | cop |
| 6 | afraid | afraid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 jade | det |
| 8 | jade | jade | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 injured | nsubj:pass |
| 9 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 12 injured | aux |
| 10 | either | either | CCONJ | _ | 12 injured | cc:preconj |
| 11 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 12 injured | aux:pass |
| 12 | injured | injure | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 afraid | ccomp |
| 13 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 14 destroyed | cc |
| 14 | destroyed | destroy | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 12 injured | conj |
| 15 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 20 took | mark |
| 16 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 17 struggle | det |
| 17 | struggle | struggle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 took | nsubj |
| 18 | for | for | ADP | _ | 19 possession | case |
| 19 | possession | possession | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 struggle | nmod |
| 20 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 destroyed | advcl |
| 21 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 took | obj |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 caused | punct |
| 23 | so | so | ADV | _ | 25 caused | advmod |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 caused | nsubj |
| 25 | caused | cause | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 afraid | conj |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 minister | det |
| 27 | minister | minister | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 caused | obj |
| 28 | to | to | PART | _ | 30 locked | mark |
| 29 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 30 locked | aux:pass |
| 30 | locked | lock | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 25 caused | advcl |
| 31 | in | in | ADP | _ | 33 rooms | case |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 rooms | nmod:poss |
| 33 | rooms | room | NOUN | Number=Plur | 30 locked | obl |
| 34 | until | until | SCONJ | _ | 38 give | mark |
| 35 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 give | nsubj |
| 36 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 38 give | aux |
| 37 | willingly | willingly | ADV | _ | 38 give | advmod |
| 38 | give | give | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 30 locked | advcl |
| 39 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 give | obj |
| 40 | up | up | ADP | _ | 38 give | compound:prt |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 afraid | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the Prince of Chin | afraid property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | injure | would · passive | the jade | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | destroy | participle | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 4 | take a condition, not said to happen | past | a struggle for possession | place | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=Theme | ||||
| 5 | cause | past | Prince | the minister | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition minister=Patient | ||||
| 6 | lock | to-infinitive · passive | Prince not said here | Prince's rooms | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle» | ||||
| 7 | give up | should | Prince | jade | willingly property | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Source |
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: «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Project Gutenberg book 75089 (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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