Gleanings from Chinese folklore, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies, sentence 16
To make sure, she said, “I will try this charm and see if it will work or if the priest has lied to me; I want some meat dumplings for supper.”
Who acts: lady, charm, priest · What happens: make, say, try, see, work, lie · To what, where: charm, lady, meat dumplings · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, How the Dog and Cat Came to Be Enemies. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lady, charm, priest), 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 | To | to | PART | _ | 2 make | mark |
| 2 | make | make | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | sure | sure | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 make | xcomp |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 said | punct |
| 5 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 said | nsubj |
| 6 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 sure | parataxis |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 try | punct |
| 8 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 11 try | punct |
| 9 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 11 try | nsubj |
| 10 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 11 try | aux |
| 11 | try | try | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 6 said | ccomp |
| 12 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 13 charm | det |
| 13 | charm | charm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 try | obj |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 see | cc |
| 15 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 try | conj |
| 16 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 19 work | mark |
| 17 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 work | nsubj |
| 18 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 19 work | aux |
| 19 | work | work | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 15 see | ccomp |
| 20 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 25 lied | cc |
| 21 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 25 lied | mark |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 priest | det |
| 23 | priest | priest | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 lied | nsubj |
| 24 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 25 lied | aux |
| 25 | lied | lie | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 19 work | conj |
| 26 | to | to | ADP | _ | 27 me | case |
| 27 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 25 lied | obl |
| 28 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 30 want | punct |
| 29 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 30 want | nsubj |
| 30 | want | want | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 make | conj |
| 31 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 33 dumplings | det |
| 32 | meat | meat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 dumplings | compound |
| 33 | dumplings | dumpling | NOUN | Number=Plur | 30 want | obj |
| 34 | for | for | ADP | _ | 35 supper | case |
| 35 | supper | supper | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 want | obl |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 make | punct |
| 37 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 2 make | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | make | to-infinitive | sure property | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset | |||||
| 2 | say speech: assert | past | lady | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | try in a quote | future | lady | this charm | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent charm=Eventuality | ||||
| 4 | see in a quote | infinitive | lady not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 5 | work a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | future | charm | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | lie a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present · perfect | the priest | lady | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 7 | want in a quote | present | lady | some meat dumplings | for supper | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot dumpling=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: «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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