Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 26
He told her he was twelve years old; had come from his home in the north to seek his father, and then he went on and told her how his mother fainted when he left her, and of his own sad and lonely journey.
Who acts: boy, mother · What happens: tell, be, come, seek, go on, faint · To what, where: priest, home, father · 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 (boy, mother), 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 told | nsubj |
| 2 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 told | iobj |
| 4 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 old | nsubj |
| 5 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 old | cop |
| 6 | twelve | twelve | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 7 years | nummod |
| 7 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 old | obl:unmarked |
| 8 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 told | ccomp |
| 9 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 11 come | punct |
| 10 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 come | aux |
| 11 | come | come | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 2 told | parataxis |
| 12 | from | from | ADP | _ | 14 home | case |
| 13 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 14 home | nmod:poss |
| 14 | home | home | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 come | obl |
| 15 | in | in | ADP | _ | 17 north | case |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 north | det |
| 17 | north | north | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 come | obl |
| 18 | to | to | PART | _ | 19 seek | mark |
| 19 | seek | seek | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 11 come | advcl |
| 20 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 father | nmod:poss |
| 21 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 seek | obj |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 went | punct |
| 23 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 went | cc |
| 24 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 26 went | advmod |
| 25 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 went | nsubj |
| 26 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 told | parataxis |
| 27 | on | on | ADV | _ | 26 went | advmod |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 told | cc |
| 29 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 went | conj |
| 30 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 told | iobj |
| 31 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 34 fainted | advmod |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 mother | nmod:poss |
| 33 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 fainted | nsubj |
| 34 | fainted | faint | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 told | ccomp |
| 35 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 37 left | advmod |
| 36 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 left | nsubj |
| 37 | left | leave | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 fainted | advcl |
| 38 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 left | obj |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 journey | punct |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 journey | cc |
| 41 | of | of | ADP | _ | 47 journey | case |
| 42 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 47 journey | nmod:poss |
| 43 | own | own | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 journey | amod |
| 44 | sad | sad | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 journey | amod |
| 45 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 lonely | cc |
| 46 | lonely | lonely | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 sad | conj |
| 47 | journey | journey | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 told | parataxis |
| 48 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | boy | priest | boy's own sad journey parataxis | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient | |||
| 2 | is | past | boy | year | old property | tree rules | |||
| 3 | come | past · perfect | boy's home | in the north | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from home=Initial_Location | ||||
| 4 | seek | to-infinitive | boy's father | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Theme | |||||
| 5 | go on | past | boy | then | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | tell speech: assert | past | boy not said here | priest | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent she=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 7 | faint | past | boy's mother | vn change_bodily_state-40.8.4 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 8 | leave | past | boy | priest | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent she=Theme | ||||
| 9 | journey | boy | nom journey «act transitive»: poss=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/19/26/