Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 54
Nien Chi urged Mr. Kao to introduce him that day, but the latter changed the subject of conversation, and then Nien Chi proposed that they should see who could take the most wine.
Who acts: Nien, latter, servants · What happens: urge, introduce, change, propose, see, take · To what, where: Kao, subject, most wine · 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 (Nien, latter, servants), 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 | Nien | Nien | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 urged | nsubj |
| 2 | Chi | Chi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Nien | flat |
| 3 | urged | urge | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | Mr. | Mr. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 Kao | nmod:desc |
| 5 | Kao | Kao | PROPN | Number=Sing | 3 urged | obj |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 introduce | mark |
| 7 | introduce | introduce | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 urged | xcomp |
| 8 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 introduce | obj |
| 9 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 10 day | det |
| 10 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 introduce | obl:unmarked |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 changed | punct |
| 12 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 15 changed | cc |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 latter | det |
| 14 | latter | latter | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 changed | nsubj |
| 15 | changed | change | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 urged | conj |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 subject | det |
| 17 | subject | subject | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 changed | obj |
| 18 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 conversation | case |
| 19 | conversation | conversation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 subject | nmod |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 proposed | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 proposed | cc |
| 22 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 25 proposed | advmod |
| 23 | Nien | Nien | PROPN | Number=Sing | 25 proposed | nsubj |
| 24 | Chi | Chi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 23 Nien | flat |
| 25 | proposed | propose | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 urged | conj |
| 26 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 29 see | mark |
| 27 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 see | nsubj |
| 28 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 29 see | aux |
| 29 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 proposed | ccomp |
| 30 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 32 take | nsubj |
| 31 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 32 take | aux |
| 32 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 see | ccomp |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 wine | det |
| 34 | most | most | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 35 wine | amod |
| 35 | wine | wine | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 take | obj |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 urged | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | urge | past | Nien | Kao Mr. | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent kao=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | introduce not said to happen | to-infinitive | Nien not said here | Kao | day | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | |||
| 3 | change | past | the latter | the subject of conversation | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient | ||||
| 4 | propose | past | Nien | then | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | see | should | servants = servant | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 6 | take | could | the most wine | who nsubj | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wine=Theme |
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/pg75089/17/54/