Gleanings from Chinese folklore, T’ang Sung’s Journey to Get the Buddhist Classics, sentence 14
“I can catch thieves and have power to do many strange things,” was the reply; “and the only trouble with me is that I walk slowly.”
Who acts: I · What happens: catch, have, do, be · To what, where: thieves, power, many strange things, reply · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (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 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 catch | punct |
| 2 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 4 catch | nsubj |
| 3 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 catch | aux |
| 4 | catch | catch | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 18 reply | nsubj |
| 5 | thieves | thief | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 catch | obj |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 have | cc |
| 7 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 catch | conj |
| 8 | power | power | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 have | obj |
| 9 | to | to | PART | _ | 10 do | mark |
| 10 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 8 power | acl |
| 11 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 things | amod |
| 12 | strange | strange | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 things | amod |
| 13 | things | thing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 do | obj |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 catch | punct |
| 15 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 catch | punct |
| 16 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 reply | cop |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 reply | det |
| 18 | reply | reply | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 19 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 24 trouble | punct |
| 20 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 24 trouble | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 trouble | cc |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 trouble | det |
| 23 | only | only | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 24 trouble | amod |
| 24 | trouble | trouble | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 reply | parataxis |
| 25 | with | with | ADP | _ | 26 me | case |
| 26 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 24 trouble | nmod |
| 27 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 30 walk | cop |
| 28 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 30 walk | mark |
| 29 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 30 walk | nsubj |
| 30 | walk | walk | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 24 trouble | parataxis |
| 31 | slowly | slowly | ADV | _ | 30 walk | advmod |
| 32 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 24 trouble | punct |
| 33 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 18 reply | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | catch in a quote | can | I | thieves | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thief=Theme | ||||
| 2 | have in a quote | present | I not said here | power | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent power=Patient | ||||
| 3 | do in a quote | to-infinitive | I not said here | many strange things | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality | ||||
| 4 | be speech: assert | past | the reply | the only trouble with me parataxis | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | is in a quote | present | I | slowly, walk property | tree rules |
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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