Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 111
When Sun Hou took this message to the king he thanked them and let them go on their way, promising to entertain them on their return.
Who acts: Sun, feet · What happens: take, thank, let, go, promise, entertain · To what, where: message, king, feet, way, return
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sun, feet), 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 4 took | advmod |
| 2 | Sun | Sun | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 took | nsubj |
| 3 | Hou | Hou | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 Sun | flat |
| 4 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 6 message | det |
| 6 | message | message | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 took | obj |
| 7 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 king | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 king | det |
| 9 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 took | obl |
| 10 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 thanked | nsubj |
| 11 | thanked | thank | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 king | acl:relcl |
| 12 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 thanked | obj |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 let | cc |
| 14 | let | let | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 4 took | conj |
| 15 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 let | obj |
| 16 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 14 let | xcomp |
| 17 | on | on | ADP | _ | 19 way | case |
| 18 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 way | nmod:poss |
| 19 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 go | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 promising | punct |
| 21 | promising | promise | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 took | advcl |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 entertain | mark |
| 23 | entertain | entertain | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 21 promising | xcomp |
| 24 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 entertain | obj |
| 25 | on | on | ADP | _ | 27 return | case |
| 26 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 return | nmod:poss |
| 27 | return | return | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 entertain | obl |
| 28 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 took | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | take | past | Sun | this message | the king | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent message=Theme to king=Destination | |||
| 2 | thank speech: thank | past | Sun | the king not said here | feet = foot | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | |||
| 3 | let | infinitive | Sun not said here | feet = foot | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | go | infinitive | feet = foot not said here | feet's way | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on way=Location | ||||
| 5 | promise speech: promise | gerund | Sun not said here | vn promise-37.13 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | entertain not said to happen | to-infinitive | Sun not said here | feet = foot | feet's return | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer | |||
| 7 | return | feet = foot | nom return «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |
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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/16/111/