Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 99

If I were homely no one would want me; see, this I do to show how true is my heart to you,” and before he saw what she was about she took some scissors from her sleeve and dug out one of her beautiful eyes, and then, raising her poor disfigured face to his, she said, as she tried to smile, “Do you believe me, is it not proof enough?

Who acts: I, promise, use, you, face · What happens: be, see, do, show, dig out, raise · To what, where: you, true heart, sleeve, one, poor disfigured face, me · 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 (I, promise, use, you), 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	If	if	SCONJ	_	8 want	mark
2	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	8 want	nsubj
3	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	8 want	cop
4	homely	homely	ADV	_	8 want	advmod
5	no	no	DET	PronType=Neg	6 one	det
6	one	one	NOUN	Number=Sing	8 want	nsubj
7	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	8 want	aux
8	want	want	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 do	advcl
9	me	I	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	8 want	obj
10	;	;	PUNCT	_	11 see	punct
11	see	see	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	8 want	conj
12	,	,	PUNCT	_	8 want	punct
13	this	this	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	8 want	obj
14	I	I	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	15 do	nsubj
15	do	do	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	30 saw	parataxis
16	to	to	PART	_	17 show	mark
17	show	show	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	15 do	advcl
18	how	how	ADV	PronType=Int	19 true	advmod
19	true	true	ADJ	Degree=Pos	22 heart	amod
20	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	22 heart	cop
21	my	my	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	22 heart	nmod:poss
22	heart	heart	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 show	obj
23	to	to	ADP	_	24 you	case
24	you	you	PRON	Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs	17 show	obl
25	,	,	PUNCT	_	15 do	punct
26	”	"	PUNCT	_	15 do	punct
27	and	and	CCONJ	_	30 saw	cc
28	before	before	SCONJ	_	30 saw	mark
29	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	30 saw	nsubj
30	saw	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
31	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	30 saw	obj
32	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	36 took	nsubj
33	was	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	36 took	cop
34	about	about	ADV	_	36 took	advmod
35	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	36 took	nsubj
36	took	take	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	31 what	acl:relcl
37	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	38 scissors	det
38	scissors	scissors	NOUN	Number=Plur	36 took	obj
39	from	from	ADP	_	41 sleeve	case
40	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	41 sleeve	nmod:poss
41	sleeve	sleeve	NOUN	Number=Sing	36 took	obl
42	and	and	CCONJ	_	43 dug	cc
43	dug	dig	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	36 took	conj
44	out	out	ADP	_	43 dug	compound:prt
45	one	one	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	43 dug	obj
46	of	of	ADP	_	49 eyes	case
47	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	49 eyes	nmod:poss
48	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	49 eyes	amod
49	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	45 one	nmod
50	,	,	PUNCT	_	54 raising	punct
51	and	and	CCONJ	_	54 raising	cc
52	then	then	ADV	PronType=Dem	54 raising	advmod
53	,	,	PUNCT	_	54 raising	punct
54	raising	raise	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	30 saw	advcl
55	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	58 face	nmod:poss
56	poor	poor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	58 face	amod
57	disfigured	disfigure	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	58 face	amod
58	face	face	NOUN	Number=Sing	54 raising	obj
59	to	to	ADP	_	60 his	case
60	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	54 raising	obj
61	,	,	PUNCT	_	63 said	punct
62	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	63 said	nsubj
63	said	say	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	30 saw	conj
64	,	,	PUNCT	_	67 tried	punct
65	as	as	SCONJ	_	67 tried	mark
66	she	she	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	67 tried	nsubj
67	tried	try	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	63 said	ccomp
68	to	to	PART	_	69 smile	mark
69	smile	smile	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	67 tried	xcomp
70	,	,	PUNCT	_	74 believe	punct
71	“	"	PUNCT	_	74 believe	punct
72	Do	do	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	74 believe	aux
73	you	you	PRON	Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs	74 believe	nsubj
74	believe	believe	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	69 smile	advcl
75	me	I	PRON	Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs	74 believe	iobj
76	,	,	PUNCT	_	80 proof	punct
77	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	80 proof	cop
78	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	80 proof	nsubj
79	not	not	PART	Polarity=Neg	80 proof	advmod
80	proof	proof	ADJ	Degree=Pos	30 saw	conj
81	enough	enough	ADV	_	80 proof	advmod
82	?	?	PUNCT	_	30 saw	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is a condition, not said to happen	would · past	I					no one nsubj; me obj; this obj; homely, want property	tree rules
2	see	infinitive	I not said here						vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer
3	do	present	I						vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
4	show	to-infinitive	I not said here		you				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent to you=Recipient
5	is a	present		my true heart				my nmod:poss	tree rules
6	see in a quote	past	promise					what obj	tree rules
7	is in a quote	past	use			use's sleeve		some scissors obj; about, take property	tree rules
8	dig out in a quote	past	use not said here	one of use's beautiful eyes					vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent one=Theme
9	raise in a quote	gerund	promise not said here	use's poor disfigured face			then	promise obj	vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent face=Theme his=Destination
10	disfigure in a quote	participle							vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
11	say speech: assert in a quote	past	use						vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
12	try in a quote	past	use						vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
13	smile not said to happen, in a quote	to-infinitive	use not said here						vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent
14	believe	present · do-support	you		me				vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer i=Stimulus
15	not is	present	face					enough, proof property	tree rules

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/pg75089/17/99/

🌲 Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 99

The tree

Pragmatics

Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 1, sentence 99