Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Nellie N. Russell, sentence 42
In many cases the parents could not understand English, but, as the children practically lived on the streets and so picked up its language, they understood us when we asked them to come and to bring others with them.
Who acts: parents, children, we · What happens: not understand, live, pick up, understand, ask, come · To what, where: English, many cases, streets, language, us, children
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, 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 (parents, children, we), 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 | In | in | ADP | _ | 3 cases | case |
| 2 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 cases | amod |
| 3 | cases | case | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 understand | obl |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 parents | det |
| 5 | parents | parent | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 understand | nsubj |
| 6 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 8 understand | aux |
| 7 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 8 understand | advmod |
| 8 | understand | understand | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 9 | English | English | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 understand | obj |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 lived | punct |
| 11 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 17 lived | cc |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 children | punct |
| 13 | as | as | ADP | _ | 15 children | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 children | det |
| 15 | children | child | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 lived | nsubj |
| 16 | practically | practically | ADV | _ | 17 lived | advmod |
| 17 | lived | live | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 understand | conj |
| 18 | on | on | ADP | _ | 20 streets | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 streets | det |
| 20 | streets | street | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 lived | obl |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 picked | cc |
| 22 | so | so | ADV | _ | 23 picked | advmod |
| 23 | picked | pick | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 8 understand | conj |
| 24 | up | up | ADP | _ | 23 picked | compound:prt |
| 25 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 26 language | nmod:poss |
| 26 | language | language | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 picked | obj |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 understood | punct |
| 28 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 understood | nsubj |
| 29 | understood | understand | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 picked | conj |
| 30 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 29 understood | obj |
| 31 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 33 asked | advmod |
| 32 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 33 asked | nsubj |
| 33 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 understood | advcl |
| 34 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 asked | obj |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 36 come | mark |
| 36 | come | come | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 33 asked | xcomp |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 bring | cc |
| 38 | to | to | PART | _ | 39 bring | mark |
| 39 | bring | bring | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 come | conj |
| 40 | others | other | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 bring | obj |
| 41 | with | with | ADP | _ | 42 them | case |
| 42 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 bring | obl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 understand | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not understand | could | the parents | English | many cases | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer english=Stimulus | |||
| 2 | live | past | the children | the streets | practically property | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on street=Location | |||
| 3 | pick up | participle | the parents not said here | street's language | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent language=Topic | ||||
| 4 | understand | past | children = child | us | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer we=Stimulus | ||||
| 5 | ask speech: ask | past | we | children = child | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 6 | come not said to happen | to-infinitive | we not said here | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 7 | bring | to-infinitive | we not said here | others | with children = child | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent other=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/pg75089/3/42/