Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Miss Russell’s Funeral Service, sentence 11
In English, he told us of the comfort sought by the dear friend in the Twenty-third Psalm, which she asked to have read to her the day before she left us.
Who acts: English, Stelle · What happens: tell, seek, ask, read, leave · To what, where: us, English, comfort, third Psalm, Stelle · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, Miss Russell’s Funeral Service. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (English, Stelle), 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 | _ | 2 English | case |
| 2 | English | English | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 told | obl |
| 3 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 English | punct |
| 4 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 told | nsubj |
| 5 | told | tell | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 6 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 5 told | iobj |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 comfort | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 comfort | det |
| 9 | comfort | comfort | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 told | obl |
| 10 | sought | seek | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 9 comfort | acl |
| 11 | by | by | ADP | _ | 14 friend | case |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 friend | det |
| 13 | dear | dear | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 14 friend | amod |
| 14 | friend | friend | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 sought | obl:agent |
| 15 | in | in | ADP | _ | 20 Psalm | case |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 Psalm | det |
| 17 | Twenty | twenty | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 19 third | compound |
| 18 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 17 Twenty | punct |
| 19 | third | third | ADJ | Degree=Pos NumForm=Word NumType=Ord | 20 Psalm | amod |
| 20 | Psalm | Psalm | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 sought | obl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 asked | punct |
| 22 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 24 asked | obj |
| 23 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 asked | nsubj |
| 24 | asked | ask | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 Psalm | acl:relcl |
| 25 | to | to | PART | _ | 27 read | mark |
| 26 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 27 read | aux |
| 27 | read | read | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 24 asked | ccomp |
| 28 | to | to | ADP | _ | 29 her | case |
| 29 | her | she | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 read | obl |
| 30 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 31 day | det |
| 31 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 read | obl:unmarked |
| 32 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 34 left | mark |
| 33 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 left | nsubj |
| 34 | left | leave | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 read | advcl |
| 35 | us | we | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 34 left | obj |
| 36 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 told | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tell speech: assert | past | English | us | English | of the comfort | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent we=Recipient | ||
| 2 | seek | participle | the comfort not said here | the third Psalm | the dear friend obl:agent | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent in psalm=Location | |||
| 3 | ask speech: ask | past | Stelle | the third Psalm | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S_INF»: agent=Agent which=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 4 | read not said to happen | to-infinitive · perfect | Stelle | day | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient how S»: agent=Agent to she=Recipient | ||||
| 5 | leave | past | Stelle | us | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent we=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/pg75089/5/11/