Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 110
He had in his hand a broken comb and, spread out before him, a part of a silk handkerchief and a broken mirror, and with tears in his eyes Mr. Tu waved the men aside and asked the boy who he was and where he came from.
Who acts: lot, Tu · What happens: have, break, spread out, wave, ask, come · To what, where: broken comb, hand, men, boy
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lot, Tu), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 had | nsubj |
| 2 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | in | in | ADP | _ | 5 hand | case |
| 4 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 hand | nmod:poss |
| 5 | hand | hand | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 had | obl |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 comb | det |
| 7 | broken | break | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 comb | amod |
| 8 | comb | comb | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 had | obj |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 spread | cc |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 spread | punct |
| 11 | spread | spread | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 had | conj |
| 12 | out | out | ADP | _ | 11 spread | compound:prt |
| 13 | before | before | ADP | _ | 14 him | case |
| 14 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 spread | obl |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 part | punct |
| 16 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 17 part | det |
| 17 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 him | conj |
| 18 | of | of | ADP | _ | 21 handkerchief | case |
| 19 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 21 handkerchief | det |
| 20 | silk | silk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 handkerchief | compound |
| 21 | handkerchief | handkerchief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 part | nmod |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 mirror | cc |
| 23 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 25 mirror | det |
| 24 | broken | break | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 25 mirror | amod |
| 25 | mirror | mirror | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 handkerchief | conj |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 waved | punct |
| 27 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 waved | cc |
| 28 | with | with | ADP | _ | 29 tears | case |
| 29 | tears | tear | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 waved | obl |
| 30 | in | in | ADP | _ | 32 eyes | case |
| 31 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 eyes | nmod:poss |
| 32 | eyes | eye | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 tears | nmod |
| 33 | Mr. | Mr. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 34 Tu | nmod:desc |
| 34 | Tu | Tu | PROPN | Number=Sing | 35 waved | nsubj |
| 35 | waved | wave | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 had | conj |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 men | det |
| 37 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 waved | obj |
| 38 | aside | aside | ADV | _ | 35 waved | advmod |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 asked | cc |
| 40 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 had | parataxis |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 boy | det |
| 42 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 asked | iobj |
| 43 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 46 and | nsubj |
| 44 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 46 and | nsubj |
| 45 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 46 and | cop |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 42 boy | cc |
| 47 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 49 came | advmod |
| 48 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 49 came | nsubj |
| 49 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 46 and | advcl |
| 50 | from | from | ADP | _ | 49 came | obl |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 had | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | past | lot | a broken comb | lot's hand | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent comb=Patient | |||
| 2 | break | participle | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 3 | spread out | participle | lot not said here | before lot | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before he=Location | ||||
| 4 | break | participle | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 5 | wave | past | Tu Mr. | the men | with tears in lot's eyes; aside property | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Patient | |||
| 6 | ask speech: ask | past | the boy | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent boy=Recipient | |||||
| 7 | come | past | lot | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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/pg75089/18/110/