Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 142
He said he had no words to praise her virtue, it was as high as Heaven; told of the son’s finding him and how he was studying under a great teacher who pronounced him a remarkable scholar.
Who acts: husband, words, virtue, great teacher · What happens: say, have, praise, be, tell, find · To what, where: words, virtue, husband · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (husband, words, virtue, great teacher), 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 said | nsubj |
| 2 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 had | nsubj |
| 4 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 said | ccomp |
| 5 | no | no | DET | PronType=Neg | 6 words | det |
| 6 | words | word | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 had | obj |
| 7 | to | to | PART | _ | 8 praise | mark |
| 8 | praise | praise | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 had | xcomp |
| 9 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 10 virtue | nmod:poss |
| 10 | virtue | virtue | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 praise | obj |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 high | punct |
| 12 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 high | nsubj |
| 13 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 high | cop |
| 14 | as | as | ADV | _ | 15 high | advmod |
| 15 | high | high | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 said | conj |
| 16 | as | as | ADP | _ | 17 Heaven | case |
| 17 | Heaven | Heaven | PROPN | Number=Sing | 15 high | obl |
| 18 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 19 told | punct |
| 19 | told | tell | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 24 finding | csubj:pass |
| 20 | of | of | ADP | _ | 22 son | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 son | det |
| 22 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 told | obl |
| 23 | ’s | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 24 finding | aux |
| 24 | finding | find | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 2 said | advcl |
| 25 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 finding | obj |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 studying | cc |
| 27 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 30 studying | advmod |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 studying | nsubj |
| 29 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 studying | aux |
| 30 | studying | study | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 24 finding | conj |
| 31 | under | under | ADP | _ | 34 teacher | case |
| 32 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 34 teacher | det |
| 33 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 teacher | amod |
| 34 | teacher | teacher | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 studying | obl |
| 35 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 36 pronounced | nsubj |
| 36 | pronounced | pronounce | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 teacher | acl:relcl |
| 37 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 pronounced | obj |
| 38 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 40 scholar | det |
| 39 | remarkable | remarkable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 scholar | amod |
| 40 | scholar | scholar | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 pronounced | obj |
| 41 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | past | husband | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | have | past | husband | no words | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | praise | to-infinitive | no words not said here | Yü's virtue | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent virtue=Theme | ||||
| 4 | is | past | virtue | as Heaven; high property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | tell speech: assert | participle | of the son | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | find | present · progressive | husband not said here | husband | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Topic | ||||
| 7 | study | past · progressive | husband | under a great teacher | vn learn-14-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 8 | pronounce | past | a great teacher | husband | a remarkable scholar obj | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme scholar=Result |
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/pg75089/19/142/