Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 46
The servant said “his master had heard much of the wisdom of young Mr. Kao; he was most desirous of calling on him, making his acquaintance, and would he please accept the small, insignificant gifts as an expression of friendship.”
Who acts: servant, master, Chi · What happens: say, hear, be, call, make, accept · To what, where: much, acquaintance, small insignificant gifts · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (servant, master, Chi), 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 servant | det |
| 2 | servant | servant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 said | nsubj |
| 3 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 8 heard | punct |
| 5 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 master | nmod:poss |
| 6 | master | master | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 heard | nsubj |
| 7 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 heard | aux |
| 8 | heard | hear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 3 said | conj |
| 9 | much | much | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 heard | obj |
| 10 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 wisdom | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 wisdom | det |
| 12 | wisdom | wisdom | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 much | nmod |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 Kao | case |
| 14 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 Kao | amod |
| 15 | Mr. | Mr. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 Kao | nmod:desc |
| 16 | Kao | Kao | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 wisdom | nmod |
| 17 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 21 desirous | punct |
| 18 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 desirous | nsubj |
| 19 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 21 desirous | cop |
| 20 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 21 desirous | advmod |
| 21 | desirous | desirous | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 said | parataxis |
| 22 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 23 calling | mark |
| 23 | calling | call | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 21 desirous | advcl |
| 24 | on | on | ADP | _ | 25 him | case |
| 25 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 calling | obl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 making | punct |
| 27 | making | make | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 23 calling | conj |
| 28 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 29 acquaintance | nmod:poss |
| 29 | acquaintance | acquaintance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 making | obj |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 accept | punct |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 accept | cc |
| 32 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 35 accept | aux |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 accept | nsubj |
| 34 | please | please | INTJ | _ | 35 accept | discourse |
| 35 | accept | accept | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 said | ccomp |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 gifts | det |
| 37 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 gifts | amod |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 small | punct |
| 39 | insignificant | insignificant | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 gifts | amod |
| 40 | gifts | gift | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 accept | obj |
| 41 | as | as | ADP | _ | 43 expression | case |
| 42 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 43 expression | det |
| 43 | expression | expression | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 accept | obl |
| 44 | of | of | ADP | _ | 45 friendship | case |
| 45 | friendship | friendship | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 expression | nmod |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 35 accept | punct |
| 47 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 35 accept | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | the servant | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | hear in a quote | past · perfect | Chi's master | much of the wisdom of young Kao Mr. | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer much=Stimulus | ||||
| 3 | is in a quote | past | master | desirous property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | call in a quote | gerund | master not said here | on Chi | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | make in a quote | gerund | master not said here | Chi's acquaintance | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset acquaintance=Product | ||||
| 6 | accept in a quote | would | master | the small insignificant gifts | as a expression of friendship | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent gift=Theme as expression=Attribute | |||
| 7 | acquaint in a quote | Chi | nom acquaintance «cognition transitive»: 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/pg75089/17/46/