Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 4, sentence 102
He read as in a dream the entire paper; he saw, as one thing after another came before his mind, how for years he had been a tool of his minister, Yen Sung.
Who acts: Ting, one thing · What happens: read, see, come, be, mind · To what, where: entire paper, mind, tool
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Story of Old China, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ting, one thing), 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 read | nsubj |
| 2 | read | read | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | as | as | ADP | _ | 6 dream | case |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 dream | case |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 dream | det |
| 6 | dream | dream | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 read | obl |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 paper | det |
| 8 | entire | entire | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 paper | amod |
| 9 | paper | paper | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 read | obj |
| 10 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 12 saw | punct |
| 11 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 saw | nsubj |
| 12 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 read | parataxis |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 came | punct |
| 14 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 19 came | mark |
| 15 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 16 thing | nummod |
| 16 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 came | nsubj |
| 17 | after | after | ADP | _ | 18 another | case |
| 18 | another | another | DET | PronType=Ind | 16 thing | nmod |
| 19 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 12 saw | conj |
| 20 | before | before | ADP | _ | 22 mind | case |
| 21 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 mind | nmod:poss |
| 22 | mind | mind | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 came | obl |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 tool | punct |
| 24 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 31 tool | advmod |
| 25 | for | for | ADP | _ | 26 years | case |
| 26 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 tool | obl |
| 27 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 tool | nsubj |
| 28 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 tool | aux |
| 29 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 31 tool | cop |
| 30 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 31 tool | det |
| 31 | tool | tool | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 came | obl |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 minister | case |
| 33 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 34 minister | nmod:poss |
| 34 | minister | minister | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 tool | nmod |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 Yen | punct |
| 36 | Yen | Yen | PROPN | Number=Sing | 31 tool | conj |
| 37 | Sung | Sung | PROPN | Number=Sing | 36 Yen | flat |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 read | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | read | past | Ting | the entire paper | as a dream | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer paper=Stimulus as dream=Attribute | |||
| 2 | see | past | Ting | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 3 | come | past | one thing after another | Ting's mind | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before mind=Location | ||||
| 4 | is a | past · perfect | Ting | a tool and Yen | year | of Ting's minister; Yen conj | tree rules | ||
| 5 | mind | Ting | nom mind «cognition 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/pg75089/20/102/