Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 2, sentence 78
This kind of life was very trying to him and he endured it for some months, and then, being a proud, spirited man, he determined that he would either die or change for the better in some way.
Who acts: Yang · What happens: try, endure, be, determine, die, change · To what, where: kind, Yang, proud spirited man
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 (Yang), 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 | This | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 2 kind | det |
| 2 | kind | kind | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 trying | obj |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 life | case |
| 4 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 kind | nmod |
| 5 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 trying | aux |
| 6 | very | very | ADV | _ | 7 trying | advmod |
| 7 | trying | try | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 29 determined | advcl |
| 8 | to | to | ADP | _ | 9 him | case |
| 9 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 trying | obl |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 endured | cc |
| 11 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 endured | nsubj |
| 12 | endured | endure | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 trying | conj |
| 13 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 endured | obj |
| 14 | for | for | ADP | _ | 16 months | case |
| 15 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 16 months | det |
| 16 | months | month | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 endured | obl |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 man | punct |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 man | cc |
| 19 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 26 man | advmod |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 man | punct |
| 21 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 26 man | cop |
| 22 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 26 man | det |
| 23 | proud | proud | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 man | amod |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 proud | punct |
| 25 | spirited | spirited | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 26 man | amod |
| 26 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 endured | obl |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 trying | punct |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 determined | nsubj |
| 29 | determined | determine | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 30 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 34 die | mark |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 die | nsubj |
| 32 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 die | aux |
| 33 | either | either | ADV | PronType=Ind | 34 die | advmod |
| 34 | die | die | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 determined | ccomp |
| 35 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 36 change | cc |
| 36 | change | change | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 34 die | conj |
| 37 | for | for | ADP | _ | 39 better | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 better | det |
| 39 | better | good | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 36 change | obl |
| 40 | in | in | ADP | _ | 42 way | case |
| 41 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 42 way | det |
| 42 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 better | obl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 29 determined | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | try | past · progressive | Yang not said here | this kind of life | Yang | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent kind=Eventuality | |||
| 2 | endure | past | Yang | kind | month | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Circumstance | |||
| 3 | is a | gerund | a proud spirited man | then | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | determine | past | Yang | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | |||||
| 5 | die | would | Yang | either property | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | ||||
| 6 | change | infinitive | Yang not said here | for the better in some way | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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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