Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Miss Nellie N. Russell’s Unique Work, sentence 48
This past winter (1911) Miss Russell and Mrs. Ament opened rooms in a court directly opening from a gate on the main street, where they received their lady guests, held classes and small lectures, etc. Nowhere in Peking was there a daintier, prettier reception-room.
Who acts: past winter, rooms, Peking · What happens: open, receive, hold, be · To what, where: rooms, court, gate, lady guests, etc.
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Miss Nellie N. Russell’s Unique Work. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (past winter, rooms, Peking), 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 | This | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 winter | det |
| 2 | past | past | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 winter | amod |
| 3 | winter | winter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 opened | nsubj |
| 4 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 5 1911 | punct |
| 5 | 1911 | 1911 | NUM | NumForm=Digit NumType=Card | 3 winter | appos |
| 6 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 5 1911 | punct |
| 7 | Miss | Miss | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 opened | nsubj |
| 8 | Russell | Russell | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 Miss | flat |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 10 Mrs. | cc |
| 10 | Mrs. | Mrs. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 7 Miss | conj |
| 11 | Ament | Ament | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 Mrs. | flat |
| 12 | opened | open | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 13 | rooms | room | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 opened | obj |
| 14 | in | in | ADP | _ | 16 court | case |
| 15 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 court | det |
| 16 | court | court | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 opened | obl |
| 17 | directly | directly | ADV | _ | 18 opening | advmod |
| 18 | opening | open | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 12 opened | advcl |
| 19 | from | from | ADP | _ | 21 gate | case |
| 20 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 21 gate | det |
| 21 | gate | gate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 opening | obl |
| 22 | on | on | ADP | _ | 25 street | case |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 street | det |
| 24 | main | main | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 street | amod |
| 25 | street | street | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 opening | obl |
| 26 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 received | punct |
| 27 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 29 received | advmod |
| 28 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 received | nsubj |
| 29 | received | receive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 opening | conj |
| 30 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 guests | nmod:poss |
| 31 | lady | lady | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 guests | compound |
| 32 | guests | guest | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 received | obj |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 classes | punct |
| 34 | held | hold | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 35 classes | amod |
| 35 | classes | class | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 guests | conj |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 lectures | cc |
| 37 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 lectures | amod |
| 38 | lectures | lecture | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 guests | conj |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 etc. | punct |
| 40 | etc. | etc. | NOUN | Abbr=Yes Number=Plur | 29 received | obj |
| 41 | Nowhere | nowhere | ADV | PronType=Neg | 43 Peking | advmod |
| 42 | in | in | ADP | _ | 43 Peking | case |
| 43 | Peking | Peking | PROPN | Number=Sing | 45 there | nsubj |
| 44 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 there | cop |
| 45 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 40 etc. | acl:relcl |
| 46 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 52 room | det |
| 47 | daintier | dainty | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 52 room | amod |
| 48 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 47 daintier | punct |
| 49 | prettier | pretty | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 52 room | amod |
| 50 | reception | reception | NOUN | Number=Sing | 52 room | compound |
| 51 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 50 reception | punct |
| 52 | room | room | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 there | obl |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 12 opened | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | open | past | this past winter | rooms | a court | Miss and Mrs. nsubj | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent room=Theme in court=Location | ||
| 2 | open | gerund | this past winter not said here | a gate | on the main street; directly property | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on street=Location | |||
| 3 | receive | past | rooms = room | rooms's lady guests and held classes and small lectures | etc. obj | vn admit-64.3-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent guest=Theme etc.=Location | |||
| 4 | hold | participle | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 5 | is | past | Peking | etc. not said here | a daintier prettier reception room obl; there property | tree rules |
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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