Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 15
Early in the morning the caravan started, and when but a short distance from the city they were overtaken by Yen Sung and his servants, who inquired how much silver was being taken, also made the demand to see it.
Who acts: caravan, Yen Sung · What happens: start, overtake, inquire, take, make, see · To what, where: logs, much silver, short distance, demand
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (caravan, Yen Sung), 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 | Early | early | ADV | Degree=Pos | 7 started | advmod |
| 2 | in | in | ADP | _ | 4 morning | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 morning | det |
| 4 | morning | morning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 started | obl |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 caravan | det |
| 6 | caravan | caravan | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 started | nsubj |
| 7 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 made | punct |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 made | cc |
| 10 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 35 taken | mark |
| 11 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 14 distance | cc |
| 12 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 distance | det |
| 13 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 distance | amod |
| 14 | distance | distance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 taken | nsubj:pass |
| 15 | from | from | ADP | _ | 17 city | case |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 city | det |
| 17 | city | city | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 distance | nmod |
| 18 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 overtaken | nsubj |
| 19 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 overtaken | aux:pass |
| 20 | overtaken | overtake | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 17 city | acl:relcl |
| 21 | by | by | ADP | _ | 23 Sung | case |
| 22 | Yen | Yen | PROPN | Number=Sing | 23 Sung | compound |
| 23 | Sung | Sung | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 overtaken | obl |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 servants | cc |
| 25 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 servants | nmod:poss |
| 26 | servants | servant | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 Sung | conj |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 inquired | punct |
| 28 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 29 inquired | nsubj |
| 29 | inquired | inquire | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 Sung | acl:relcl |
| 30 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 31 much | advmod |
| 31 | much | much | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 silver | amod |
| 32 | silver | silver | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 inquired | obj |
| 33 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 taken | aux:pass |
| 34 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 35 taken | aux:pass |
| 35 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 38 made | advcl |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 taken | punct |
| 37 | also | also | ADV | _ | 38 made | advmod |
| 38 | made | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 started | conj |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 demand | det |
| 40 | demand | demand | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 made | obj |
| 41 | to | to | PART | _ | 42 see | mark |
| 42 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 38 made | advcl |
| 43 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 see | obj |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 started | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | start | past | the caravan | morning | early property | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||
| 2 | overtake | past · passive | Yen Sung and caravan's servants | logs = log | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | inquire speech: other | past | Yen Sung and caravan's servants | much silver | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent silver=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | take | past · passive | a short distance from the city | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 5 | make | past | the caravan not said here | the demand | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset demand=Product | ||||
| 6 | see | to-infinitive | the caravan not said here | demand | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
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/pg75089/17/15/