Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 52
You are older than I, so according to our custom it would be proper for you to introduce me to your wife, my sister, if indeed you will stoop to accept so stupid a man as a brother.”
Who acts: You, custom · What happens: be, accord, introduce, stoop, accept · To what, where: me, stupid man
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 (You, custom), 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 | You | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 3 older | nsubj |
| 2 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 older | cop |
| 3 | older | old | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | root | root |
| 4 | than | than | ADP | _ | 5 I | case |
| 5 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 3 older | obl |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 proper | punct |
| 7 | so | so | ADV | _ | 15 proper | advmod |
| 8 | according | accord | VERB | ExtPos=ADP Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 11 custom | case |
| 9 | to | to | ADP | _ | 8 according | fixed |
| 10 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 custom | nmod:poss |
| 11 | custom | custom | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 proper | obl |
| 12 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 proper | nsubj |
| 13 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 15 proper | aux |
| 14 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 15 proper | cop |
| 15 | proper | proper | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 older | conj |
| 16 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 19 introduce | mark |
| 17 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 19 introduce | nsubj |
| 18 | to | to | PART | _ | 19 introduce | mark |
| 19 | introduce | introduce | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 15 proper | advcl |
| 20 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 19 introduce | obj |
| 21 | to | to | ADP | _ | 23 wife | case |
| 22 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 wife | nmod:poss |
| 23 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 introduce | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 sister | punct |
| 25 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 sister | nmod:poss |
| 26 | sister | sister | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 wife | conj |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 stoop | punct |
| 28 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 32 stoop | mark |
| 29 | indeed | indeed | ADV | _ | 32 stoop | advmod |
| 30 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 32 stoop | nsubj |
| 31 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 32 stoop | aux |
| 32 | stoop | stoop | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 introduce | conj |
| 33 | to | to | PART | _ | 34 accept | mark |
| 34 | accept | accept | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 32 stoop | xcomp |
| 35 | so | so | ADV | _ | 36 stupid | advmod |
| 36 | stupid | stupid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 man | amod |
| 37 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 38 man | det |
| 38 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 accept | obj |
| 39 | as | as | ADP | _ | 41 brother | case |
| 40 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 41 brother | det |
| 41 | brother | brother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 accept | obl |
| 42 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 older | punct |
| 43 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 3 older | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | You | than I; old property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | accord | gerund | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 3 | is | would | custom | accord our custom; proper property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | introduce | to-infinitive | you | me | to your wife and my sister | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent i=Patient to wife=Co-Patient | |||
| 5 | stoop a condition, not said to happen | future | you | indeed property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | accept | to-infinitive | you not said here | a stupid man | as a brother | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent man=Theme as brother=Attribute |
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/pg75089/17/52/