Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 3, sentence 34
To this Ting Lang replied, “At first we were supported by my grandparents, but they are dead now; died poor, and my mother, for some time, has had to take in washing.
Who acts: Lang, grandparents, mother · What happens: reply, support, be, die, have, take in · To what, where: Ting, we, washing · 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 (Lang, grandparents, 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 | To | to | ADP | _ | 3 Ting | case |
| 2 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 Ting | det |
| 3 | Ting | ting | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 replied | obl |
| 4 | Lang | Lang | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 replied | nsubj |
| 5 | replied | reply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 supported | punct |
| 7 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 supported | punct |
| 8 | At | at | ADP | _ | 9 first | case |
| 9 | first | first | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 12 supported | obl |
| 10 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 12 supported | nsubj |
| 11 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 supported | aux:pass |
| 12 | supported | support | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 replied | ccomp |
| 13 | by | by | ADP | _ | 15 grandparents | case |
| 14 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 15 grandparents | nmod:poss |
| 15 | grandparents | grandparent | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 supported | obl:agent |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 dead | punct |
| 17 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 20 dead | cc |
| 18 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 dead | nsubj |
| 19 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 20 dead | cop |
| 20 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 replied | advcl |
| 21 | now | now | ADV | PronType=Dem | 20 dead | advmod |
| 22 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 23 died | punct |
| 23 | died | die | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 replied | parataxis |
| 24 | poor | poor | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 died | xcomp |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 had | punct |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 had | cc |
| 27 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 28 mother | nmod:poss |
| 28 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 had | nsubj |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 time | punct |
| 30 | for | for | ADP | _ | 32 time | case |
| 31 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 32 time | det |
| 32 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 mother | conj |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 mother | punct |
| 34 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 35 had | aux |
| 35 | had | have | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 23 died | conj |
| 36 | to | to | PART | _ | 37 take | mark |
| 37 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 35 had | xcomp |
| 38 | in | in | ADP | _ | 37 take | compound:prt |
| 39 | washing | washing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 take | obj |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 replied | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | reply speech: assert | past | Lang | this Ting | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to ting=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 2 | support in a quote | past · passive | my grandparents | we | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer subject=Stimulus | ||||
| 3 | is in a quote | present | grandparents = grandparent | now | dead property | tree rules | |||
| 4 | die in a quote | past | poor property | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||||
| 5 | have in a quote | present · perfect | my mother and some time | tree rules | |||||
| 6 | take in in a quote | to-infinitive | my mother and some time not said here | washing | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent washing=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.
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