Gleanings from Chinese folklore, Miss Russell’s Funeral Service, sentence 23
The mound as we left it was beautiful with the sides covered with the green vines and date branches, and on top the lovely floral pieces and coloured flowers, two great wreaths of the long palm leaves and roses, and at the head a floral cross.
Who acts: we, mound · What happens: leave, be, cover · To what, where: mound, top, sides
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 (we, mound), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 mound | det |
| 2 | mound | mound | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 beautiful | nsubj |
| 3 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 5 left | mark |
| 4 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 5 left | nsubj |
| 5 | left | leave | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 mound | acl |
| 6 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 left | obj |
| 7 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 beautiful | cop |
| 8 | beautiful | beautiful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 9 | with | with | ADP | _ | 11 sides | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 sides | det |
| 11 | sides | side | NOUN | Number=Plur | 8 beautiful | obl |
| 12 | covered | cover | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 11 sides | acl |
| 13 | with | with | ADP | _ | 16 vines | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 vines | det |
| 15 | green | green | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 vines | amod |
| 16 | vines | vine | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 covered | obl |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 branches | cc |
| 18 | date | date | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 branches | compound |
| 19 | branches | branch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 vines | conj |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 top | punct |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 top | cc |
| 22 | on | on | ADP | _ | 23 top | case |
| 23 | top | top | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 beautiful | obl |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 pieces | det |
| 25 | lovely | lovely | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 pieces | amod |
| 26 | floral | floral | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 pieces | amod |
| 27 | pieces | piece | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 top | conj |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 flowers | cc |
| 29 | coloured | coloured | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 30 flowers | amod |
| 30 | flowers | flower | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 pieces | conj |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 wreaths | punct |
| 32 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 34 wreaths | nummod |
| 33 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 wreaths | amod |
| 34 | wreaths | wreath | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 pieces | conj |
| 35 | of | of | ADP | _ | 39 leaves | case |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 leaves | det |
| 37 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 39 leaves | amod |
| 38 | palm | palm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 leaves | compound |
| 39 | leaves | leaf | NOUN | Number=Plur | 34 wreaths | nmod |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 41 roses | cc |
| 41 | roses | rose | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 leaves | conj |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 49 cross | punct |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 49 cross | cc |
| 44 | at | at | ADP | _ | 46 head | case |
| 45 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 head | det |
| 46 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 cross | obl |
| 47 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 49 cross | det |
| 48 | floral | floral | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 49 cross | amod |
| 49 | cross | cross | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 top | conj |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 beautiful | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | leave | past | we | mound | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | ||||
| 2 | is | past | the mound | top and the lovely floral pieces and coloured flowers and two great wreaths of the long palm leaves and roses and a floral cross at the head | with the sides; beautiful property | tree rules | |||
| 3 | cover | participle | the sides not said here | with the green vines and date branches | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent with vine=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/pg75089/5/23/