Gleanings from Chinese folklore, An Appreciation of Nellie N. Russell, sentence 17

As we listened to her modest story of her experience in the siege of Peking, or heard her merry, ringing laugh whenever the ludicrous elements in social intercourse or surroundings appeared; when, in our little motor-boat, we saw her great eyes beam with delight at some fresh form of nature’s loveliness and heard her exclaim with irrepressible enthusiasm as we floated here and there among the islands, “Oh, it is as beautiful as the Orient!” we seemed to be in contact with the very soul of the universe in some peculiar manner.

Who acts: we, ludicrous elements, great eyes, Righteousness, laugh · What happens: listen, hear, ring, appear, see, beam · To what, where: little motor boat, merry, laugh, fresh form, Righteousness, islands · Speech: someone speaks here

This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, An Appreciation of Nellie N. Russell. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, ludicrous elements, great eyes, Righteousness), 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	As	as	SCONJ	_	3 listened	mark
2	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	3 listened	nsubj
3	listened	listen	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	45 saw	advcl
4	to	to	ADP	_	7 story	case
5	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	7 story	nmod:poss
6	modest	modest	ADJ	Degree=Pos	7 story	amod
7	story	story	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 listened	obl
8	of	of	ADP	_	10 experience	case
9	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	10 experience	nmod:poss
10	experience	experience	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 story	nmod
11	in	in	ADP	_	13 siege	case
12	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	13 siege	det
13	siege	siege	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 experience	nmod
14	of	of	ADP	_	15 Peking	case
15	Peking	Peking	PROPN	Number=Sing	13 siege	nmod
16	,	,	PUNCT	_	18 heard	punct
17	or	or	CCONJ	_	18 heard	cc
18	heard	hear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	3 listened	conj
19	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	20 merry	nmod:poss
20	merry	merry	ADJ	Degree=Pos	18 heard	obj
21	,	,	PUNCT	_	22 ringing	punct
22	ringing	ring	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	18 heard	advcl
23	laugh	laugh	NOUN	Number=Sing	22 ringing	obj
24	whenever	whenever	ADV	PronType=Rel	33 appeared	advmod
25	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	27 elements	det
26	ludicrous	ludicrous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	27 elements	amod
27	elements	element	NOUN	Number=Plur	33 appeared	nsubj
28	in	in	ADP	_	30 intercourse	case
29	social	social	ADJ	Degree=Pos	30 intercourse	amod
30	intercourse	intercourse	NOUN	Number=Sing	27 elements	nmod
31	or	or	CCONJ	_	32 surroundings	cc
32	surroundings	surroundings	NOUN	Number=Ptan	30 intercourse	conj
33	appeared	appear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	22 ringing	advcl
34	;	;	PUNCT	_	35 when	punct
35	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	3 listened	advmod
36	,	,	PUNCT	_	42 boat	punct
37	in	in	ADP	_	42 boat	case
38	our	our	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	42 boat	nmod:poss
39	little	little	ADJ	Degree=Pos	42 boat	amod
40	motor	motor	NOUN	Number=Sing	42 boat	compound
41	-	-	PUNCT	_	40 motor	punct
42	boat	boat	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 listened	obl
43	,	,	PUNCT	_	3 listened	punct
44	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	45 saw	nsubj
45	saw	see	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
46	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	48 eyes	nmod:poss
47	great	great	ADJ	Degree=Pos	48 eyes	amod
48	eyes	eye	NOUN	Number=Plur	49 beam	nsubj
49	beam	beam	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	45 saw	ccomp
50	with	with	ADP	_	51 delight	case
51	delight	delight	NOUN	Number=Sing	49 beam	obl
52	at	at	ADP	_	55 form	case
53	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	55 form	det
54	fresh	fresh	ADJ	Degree=Pos	55 form	amod
55	form	form	NOUN	Number=Sing	49 beam	obl
56	of	of	ADP	_	59 loveliness	case
57	nature	nature	NOUN	Number=Sing	59 loveliness	nmod:poss
58	’s	's	PART	_	57 nature	case
59	loveliness	loveliness	NOUN	Number=Sing	55 form	nmod
60	and	and	CCONJ	_	61 heard	cc
61	heard	hear	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	45 saw	conj
62	her	she	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	61 heard	obj
63	exclaim	exclaim	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	61 heard	xcomp
64	with	with	ADP	_	66 enthusiasm	case
65	irrepressible	irrepressible	ADJ	Degree=Pos	66 enthusiasm	amod
66	enthusiasm	enthusiasm	NOUN	Number=Sing	63 exclaim	obl
67	as	as	SCONJ	_	69 floated	mark
68	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	69 floated	nsubj
69	floated	float	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	63 exclaim	advcl
70	here	here	ADV	PronType=Dem	69 floated	advmod
71	and	and	CCONJ	_	72 there	cc
72	there	there	ADV	PronType=Dem	70 here	conj
73	among	among	ADP	_	75 islands	case
74	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	75 islands	det
75	islands	island	NOUN	Number=Plur	69 floated	obl
76	,	,	PUNCT	_	83 beautiful	punct
77	“	"	PUNCT	_	83 beautiful	punct
78	Oh	oh	INTJ	_	83 beautiful	discourse
79	,	,	PUNCT	_	78 Oh	punct
80	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	83 beautiful	nsubj
81	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	83 beautiful	cop
82	as	as	ADV	_	83 beautiful	advmod
83	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	Degree=Pos	69 floated	conj
84	as	as	ADP	_	86 Orient	case
85	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	86 Orient	det
86	Orient	orient	NOUN	Number=Sing	83 beautiful	obl
87	!	!	PUNCT	_	86 Orient	punct
88	”	"	PUNCT	_	86 Orient	punct
89	we	we	PRON	Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs	90 seemed	nsubj
90	seemed	seem	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	86 Orient	acl:relcl
91	to	to	PART	_	94 contact	mark
92	be	be	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	94 contact	cop
93	in	in	ADP	_	94 contact	case
94	contact	contact	NOUN	Number=Sing	90 seemed	xcomp
95	with	with	ADP	_	98 soul	case
96	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	98 soul	det
97	very	very	ADV	_	98 soul	advmod
98	soul	soul	NOUN	Number=Sing	94 contact	nmod
99	of	of	ADP	_	101 universe	case
100	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	101 universe	det
101	universe	universe	NOUN	Number=Sing	98 soul	nmod
102	in	in	ADP	_	105 manner	case
103	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	105 manner	det
104	peculiar	peculiar	NOUN	Number=Sing	105 manner	compound
105	manner	manner	NOUN	Number=Sing	101 universe	nmod
106	.	.	PUNCT	_	45 saw	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	listen	past	we		our little motor boat	to Righteousness's modest story of Righteousness's experience in the siege of Peking	vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to story=Theme
2	hear	past	we not said here	Righteousness's merry			vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer merry=Stimulus
3	ring	gerund	we not said here	laugh			vn sound_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location laugh=Theme
4	appear	past	the ludicrous elements in social intercourse or surroundings			whenever property	vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
5	see	past	we				vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus
6	beam	present	Righteousness's great eyes		some fresh form of nature's loveliness	with delight	vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at form=Location
7	hear	past	we not said here	Righteousness			tree rules
8	exclaim speech: express	infinitive	Righteousness not said here			with irrepressible enthusiasm	vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent
9	float	past	we		the islands; here; there		vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme among island=Trajectory
10	is in a quote	present	laugh			as the Orient; beautiful property	tree rules
11	seem	past	we	the Orient not said here			vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme orient=Attribute
12	is	to-infinitive	we not said here		contact	with the soul of the universe in some peculiar manner	tree rules
13	experience		Righteousness		the siege of Peking		nom experience «cognition transitive»: poss=agent in=place
14	form			nature's loveliness			nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient

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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🌲 Gleanings from Chinese folklore, An Appreciation of Nellie N. Russell, sentence 17

The tree

Pragmatics

Gleanings from Chinese folklore, An Appreciation of Nellie N. Russell, sentence 17