Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 16
Home he went as fast as he could, and rushing in, he prostrated himself before his mother, and implored her to tell him who his father was and why he didn’t come back.
Who acts: Home · What happens: go, rush in, prostrate, implore, tell, not be · To what, where: home, mother, Ting · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (Home), 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 | Home | home | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 went | nsubj |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 went | nsubj |
| 3 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | as | as | ADV | _ | 5 fast | advmod |
| 5 | fast | fast | ADV | Degree=Pos | 3 went | advmod |
| 6 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 8 could | mark |
| 7 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 could | nsubj |
| 8 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 fast | advcl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 rushing | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 11 rushing | cc |
| 11 | rushing | rush | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 went | advcl |
| 12 | in | in | ADV | _ | 11 rushing | advmod |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 prostrated | punct |
| 14 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 prostrated | nsubj |
| 15 | prostrated | prostrate | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 went | conj |
| 16 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 15 prostrated | obj |
| 17 | before | before | ADP | _ | 19 mother | case |
| 18 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 mother | nmod:poss |
| 19 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 prostrated | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 implored | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 implored | cc |
| 22 | implored | implore | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 went | conj |
| 23 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 implored | obj |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 tell | mark |
| 25 | tell | tell | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 implored | xcomp |
| 26 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 tell | iobj |
| 27 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 36 come | nsubj |
| 28 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 29 father | nmod:poss |
| 29 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 come | nsubj |
| 30 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 come | cop |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 come | cc |
| 32 | why | why | ADV | PronType=Int | 36 come | advmod |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 come | nsubj |
| 34 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 come | aux |
| 35 | n’t | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 36 come | advmod |
| 36 | come | come | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 tell | ccomp |
| 37 | back | back | ADV | _ | 36 come | advmod |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | Home | home nsubj; fast property | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | rush in | gerund | Home not said here | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | prostrate | past | home | home | before Ting's mother | tree rules | |||
| 4 | implore | past | Home not said here | mother | vn urge-58.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_ING»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | tell speech: assert | to-infinitive | Home not said here | Ting | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 6 | not is | past · do-support | who nsubj; Ting's father nsubj; Ting nsubj; come 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.
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