Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Miss Nellie N. Russell’s Unique Work, sentence 7
I, who have known and loved her for these twenty-one years, would like to write of her life in China, hoping perchance that some whiff of that beautiful fragrance may enter the hearts of those who read and make them more beautiful for God.
Who acts: whiff · What happens: know, love, like, write, hope, enter · To what, where: I, Dwight, China, perchance, hearts, gifts
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 (whiff), 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 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 5 known | nsubj |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 known | punct |
| 3 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 5 known | nsubj:pass |
| 4 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 known | aux |
| 5 | known | know | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 loved | cc |
| 7 | loved | love | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 known | conj |
| 8 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 loved | obj |
| 9 | for | for | ADP | _ | 14 years | case |
| 10 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 14 years | det |
| 11 | twenty | twenty | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 13 one | compound |
| 12 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 11 twenty | punct |
| 13 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 14 years | nummod |
| 14 | years | year | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 loved | obl |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 like | punct |
| 16 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 17 like | aux |
| 17 | like | like | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 known | conj |
| 18 | to | to | PART | _ | 19 write | mark |
| 19 | write | write | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 17 like | xcomp |
| 20 | of | of | ADP | _ | 22 life | case |
| 21 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 22 life | nmod:poss |
| 22 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 write | obl |
| 23 | in | in | ADP | _ | 24 China | case |
| 24 | China | China | PROPN | Number=Sing | 19 write | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 hoping | punct |
| 26 | hoping | hope | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 5 known | parataxis |
| 27 | perchance | perchance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 hoping | obj |
| 28 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 36 enter | mark |
| 29 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 30 whiff | det |
| 30 | whiff | whiff | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 enter | nsubj |
| 31 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 fragrance | case |
| 32 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 34 fragrance | det |
| 33 | beautiful | beautiful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 fragrance | amod |
| 34 | fragrance | fragrance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 whiff | nmod |
| 35 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 36 enter | aux |
| 36 | enter | enter | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 hoping | advcl |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 hearts | det |
| 38 | hearts | heart | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 enter | obj |
| 39 | of | of | ADP | _ | 40 those | case |
| 40 | those | that | PRON | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 38 hearts | nmod |
| 41 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 42 read | nsubj |
| 42 | read | read | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 40 those | acl:relcl |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 44 make | cc |
| 44 | make | make | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 42 read | conj |
| 45 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 make | obj |
| 46 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 47 beautiful | advmod |
| 47 | beautiful | beautiful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 make | xcomp |
| 48 | for | for | ADP | _ | 49 God | case |
| 49 | God | God | PROPN | Number=Sing | 47 beautiful | obl |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 known | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | know | present · perfect · passive | I | who nsubj:pass | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | love | past | Dwight | year | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus | ||||
| 3 | like | would | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | ||||||
| 4 | write not said to happen | to-infinitive | China | of Dwight's life | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | hope | gerund | perchance | tree rules | |||||
| 6 | enter | may | some whiff of that beautiful fragrance | the hearts of those | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme heart=Destination | ||||
| 7 | read | present | who nsubj | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 8 | make | present | gifts = gift | beautiful property | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset they=Product | ||||
| 9 | whiff | that beautiful fragrance | nom whiff «phenomenon 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/pg75089/4/7/