Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Nellie N. Russell, sentence 88
In a little while she knew something of their personal history and, before most hostesses could have gotten beyond the merest conventionalities, she was touching, tenderly, the sore spot in some life, with words of help and healing.
Who acts: Russell · What happens: know, get, touch, word · To what, where: something, most hostesses, sore spot, help
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 (Russell), 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 little | case |
| 2 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 little | det |
| 3 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 4 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 6 knew | mark |
| 5 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 knew | nsubj |
| 6 | knew | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 little | advcl |
| 7 | something | something | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 6 knew | obj |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 11 history | case |
| 9 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 history | nmod:poss |
| 10 | personal | personal | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 history | amod |
| 11 | history | history | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 something | nmod |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 gotten | cc |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 gotten | punct |
| 14 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 19 gotten | mark |
| 15 | most | most | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 16 hostesses | amod |
| 16 | hostesses | hostess | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 gotten | nsubj:pass |
| 17 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 19 gotten | aux |
| 18 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 19 gotten | aux |
| 19 | gotten | get | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 6 knew | conj |
| 20 | beyond | beyond | ADP | _ | 23 conventionalities | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 conventionalities | det |
| 22 | merest | mere | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 23 conventionalities | amod |
| 23 | conventionalities | conventionality | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 gotten | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 touching | punct |
| 25 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 touching | nsubj |
| 26 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 touching | aux |
| 27 | touching | touch | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 19 gotten | advcl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 tenderly | punct |
| 29 | tenderly | tenderly | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 touching | conj |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 spot | punct |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 spot | det |
| 32 | sore | sore | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 spot | amod |
| 33 | spot | spot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 touching | obl |
| 34 | in | in | ADP | _ | 36 life | case |
| 35 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 36 life | det |
| 36 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 spot | nmod |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 words | punct |
| 38 | with | with | ADP | _ | 39 words | case |
| 39 | words | word | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 touching | obl |
| 40 | of | of | ADP | _ | 41 help | case |
| 41 | help | help | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 words | nmod |
| 42 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 healing | cc |
| 43 | healing | healing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 help | conj |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 little | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | know | past | Russell | something of groups's personal history | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer something=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | get | could · perfect · passive | most hostesses | beyond the merest conventionalities | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus | ||||
| 3 | touch | past · progressive | Russell | the sore spot in some life | with words of help and healing | vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||
| 5 | word | help and healing | nom word «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.
This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75089/3/88/