Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 73
Mr. Kao always went early to the “Hall of the Classics,” and that morning when he opened the gate the dead body fell into Kao’s court; Nien Chi and soldiers were waiting just around the corner for this moment, and immediately, before Mr. Kao had taken in the situation, they had seized him and thrown him into prison, on charge of killing one of the great Sung’s servants.
Who acts: Mr., dead body, Nien, Kao, charge · What happens: go, open, fall, wait, take, seize · To what, where: Hall, gate, court, corner, situation, soldiers
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 (Mr., dead body, Nien, Kao), 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 | Mr. | Mr. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 went | nsubj |
| 2 | Kao | Kao | PROPN | Number=Sing | 1 Mr. | flat |
| 3 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 4 went | advmod |
| 4 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | early | early | ADV | Degree=Pos | 4 went | advmod |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 Hall | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 Hall | det |
| 8 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 9 Hall | punct |
| 9 | Hall | Hall | PROPN | Number=Sing | 4 went | obl |
| 10 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 Classics | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 Classics | det |
| 12 | Classics | classic | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 Hall | nmod |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 Classics | punct |
| 14 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 Classics | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 morning | cc |
| 16 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 17 morning | det |
| 17 | morning | morning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 Classics | conj |
| 18 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 20 opened | advmod |
| 19 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 opened | nsubj |
| 20 | opened | open | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 went | parataxis |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 gate | det |
| 22 | gate | gate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 opened | obj |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 body | det |
| 24 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 body | amod |
| 25 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 fell | nsubj |
| 26 | fell | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 opened | conj |
| 27 | into | into | ADP | _ | 30 court | case |
| 28 | Kao | Kao | PROPN | Number=Sing | 30 court | nmod:poss |
| 29 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 28 Kao | case |
| 30 | court | court | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 fell | obl |
| 31 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 37 waiting | punct |
| 32 | Nien | Nien | PROPN | Number=Sing | 37 waiting | nsubj |
| 33 | Chi | Chi | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 Nien | flat |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 soldiers | cc |
| 35 | soldiers | soldier | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 Nien | conj |
| 36 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 37 waiting | aux |
| 37 | waiting | wait | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 4 went | advcl |
| 38 | just | just | ADV | _ | 41 corner | advmod |
| 39 | around | around | ADP | _ | 41 corner | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 corner | det |
| 41 | corner | corner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 waiting | obl |
| 42 | for | for | ADP | _ | 44 moment | case |
| 43 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 44 moment | det |
| 44 | moment | moment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 waiting | obl |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 immediately | punct |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 immediately | cc |
| 47 | immediately | immediately | ADV | _ | 4 went | advmod |
| 48 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 53 taken | punct |
| 49 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 53 taken | mark |
| 50 | Mr. | Mr. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 51 Kao | nmod:desc |
| 51 | Kao | Kao | PROPN | Number=Sing | 53 taken | nsubj |
| 52 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 53 taken | aux |
| 53 | taken | take | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 4 went | parataxis |
| 54 | in | in | ADP | _ | 56 situation | case |
| 55 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 56 situation | det |
| 56 | situation | situation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 taken | obl |
| 57 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 60 seized | punct |
| 58 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 60 seized | nsubj:pass |
| 59 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 60 seized | aux |
| 60 | seized | seize | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 53 taken | conj |
| 61 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 60 seized | obj |
| 62 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 63 thrown | cc |
| 63 | thrown | throw | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 60 seized | conj |
| 64 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 63 thrown | obj |
| 65 | into | into | ADP | _ | 66 prison | case |
| 66 | prison | prison | NOUN | Number=Sing | 63 thrown | obl |
| 67 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 69 charge | punct |
| 68 | on | on | ADP | _ | 69 charge | case |
| 69 | charge | charge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 63 thrown | parataxis |
| 70 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 71 killing | mark |
| 71 | killing | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 69 charge | acl |
| 72 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 71 killing | obj |
| 73 | of | of | ADP | _ | 78 servants | case |
| 74 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 76 Sung | det |
| 75 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 76 Sung | amod |
| 76 | Sung | Sung | PROPN | Number=Sing | 78 servants | nmod:poss |
| 77 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 76 Sung | case |
| 78 | servants | servant | NOUN | Number=Plur | 72 one | nmod |
| 79 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | Mr. | the Hall of the Classics and that morning | always, early, immediately property | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to hall=Initial_Location | |||
| 2 | open | past | Mr. | the gate | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location gate=Theme | ||||
| 3 | fall | past | the dead body | into Kao's court result | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into court=Result | ||||
| 4 | wait | past · progressive | Nien and soldiers | the corner | moment | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme around corner=Location | |||
| 5 | take | past · perfect | Kao Mr. | the situation | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in situation=Location | ||||
| 6 | seize | past · perfect · passive | soldiers = soldier | Kao obj | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | throw | participle | Kao | into prison result; charge parataxis | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer he=Theme into prison=Result | ||||
| 8 | kill | gerund | charge not said here | one of the great Sung's servants | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=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/pg75089/17/73/