Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Story of Old China, part 4, sentence 79
“For literary men, men of high degree, to do such a thing means, can but mean, that they have a good clear reason, otherwise they would not act like beasts,” so he waited, and was waiting when Yen Sung rushed in.
Who acts: men, degrees, Man, Yen · What happens: do, mean, have, not act, wait, rush in · To what, where: thing, good clear reason · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (men, degrees, Man, Yen), 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 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 6 men | punct |
| 2 | For | for | ADP | _ | 4 men | case |
| 3 | literary | literary | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 men | amod |
| 4 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 men | obl |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 men | punct |
| 6 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 means | nsubj |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 degree | case |
| 8 | high | high | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 degree | amod |
| 9 | degree | degree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 men | nmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 do | punct |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 do | mark |
| 12 | do | do | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 16 means | nsubj |
| 13 | such | such | DET | PronType=Ind | 15 thing | det:predet |
| 14 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 15 thing | det |
| 15 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 do | obj |
| 16 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 mean | punct |
| 18 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 20 mean | aux |
| 19 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 20 mean | cc |
| 20 | mean | mean | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 means | ccomp |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 have | punct |
| 22 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 24 have | mark |
| 23 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 have | nsubj |
| 24 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 41 waited | ccomp |
| 25 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 28 reason | det |
| 26 | good | good | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 reason | amod |
| 27 | clear | clear | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 reason | amod |
| 28 | reason | reason | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 have | obj |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 act | punct |
| 30 | otherwise | otherwise | ADV | _ | 34 act | advmod |
| 31 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 act | nsubj |
| 32 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 act | aux |
| 33 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 34 act | advmod |
| 34 | act | act | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 reason | parataxis |
| 35 | like | like | ADP | _ | 36 beasts | case |
| 36 | beasts | beast | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 act | obl |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 act | punct |
| 38 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 24 have | punct |
| 39 | so | so | ADV | _ | 41 waited | advmod |
| 40 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 waited | nsubj |
| 41 | waited | wait | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 mean | ccomp |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 waiting | punct |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 45 waiting | cc |
| 44 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 waiting | aux |
| 45 | waiting | wait | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 41 waited | advcl |
| 46 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 49 rushed | advmod |
| 47 | Yen | Yen | PROPN | Number=Sing | 49 rushed | nsubj |
| 48 | Sung | Sung | PROPN | Number=Sing | 47 Yen | flat |
| 49 | rushed | rush | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 waiting | advcl |
| 50 | in | in | ADV | _ | 49 rushed | advmod |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 16 means | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | do in a quote | to-infinitive | such thing | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | mean in a quote | present | men for literary men of high degree | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 3 | mean in a quote | can | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||||
| 4 | have in a quote | present | degrees = degree | a good clear reason | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reason=Patient | ||||
| 5 | not act in a quote | would | degrees = degree | like beasts; otherwise property | vn masquerade-29.6-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Agent like beast=Attribute | ||||
| 6 | wait | past | Man | tree rules | |||||
| 7 | wait | past · progressive | Man not said here | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 8 | rush in | past | Yen | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/20/79/