Gleanings from Chinese folklore, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow, sentence 49
All this time the poor little sparrow was trembling with rage, and so great was it that she could not fly away nor keep her hold on the branch of the tree, and so she fell to the ground, and thus she died.
Who acts: poor little sparrow, proverb · What happens: tremble, be, not fly away, keep, fall, die · To what, where: rage, hold, branch
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, The Wild Goose and the Sparrow. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (poor little sparrow, proverb), 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 | All | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 3 time | det:predet |
| 2 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 time | det |
| 3 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 trembling | obl:unmarked |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 sparrow | det |
| 5 | poor | poor | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 sparrow | amod |
| 6 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 sparrow | amod |
| 7 | sparrow | sparrow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 trembling | nsubj |
| 8 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 trembling | aux |
| 9 | trembling | tremble | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 10 | with | with | ADP | _ | 11 rage | case |
| 11 | rage | rage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 trembling | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 great | punct |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 great | cc |
| 14 | so | so | ADV | _ | 15 great | advmod |
| 15 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 9 trembling | conj |
| 16 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 it | cop |
| 17 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 great | obl |
| 18 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 22 fly | mark |
| 19 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 fly | nsubj |
| 20 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 22 fly | aux |
| 21 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 22 fly | advmod |
| 22 | fly | fly | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 15 great | advcl |
| 23 | away | away | ADV | _ | 22 fly | advmod |
| 24 | nor | nor | CCONJ | Polarity=Neg | 25 keep | cc |
| 25 | keep | keep | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 22 fly | conj |
| 26 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 hold | nmod:poss |
| 27 | hold | hold | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 keep | obj |
| 28 | on | on | ADP | _ | 30 branch | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 branch | det |
| 30 | branch | branch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 keep | obl |
| 31 | of | of | ADP | _ | 33 tree | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 tree | det |
| 33 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 branch | nmod |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 fell | punct |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 fell | cc |
| 36 | so | so | ADV | _ | 38 fell | advmod |
| 37 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 fell | nsubj |
| 38 | fell | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 trembling | parataxis |
| 39 | to | to | ADP | _ | 41 ground | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 ground | det |
| 41 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 fell | obl |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 46 died | punct |
| 43 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 died | cc |
| 44 | thus | thus | ADV | _ | 46 died | advmod |
| 45 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 46 died | nsubj |
| 46 | died | die | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 38 fell | conj |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 9 trembling | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | tremble | past · progressive | the poor little sparrow | time | with rage | vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||
| 2 | is a | past | rage | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | not fly away | could | proverb | away property | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 4 | keep | infinitive | proverb not said here | proverb's hold | the branch of the tree | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent hold=Theme on branch=Location | |||
| 5 | fall | past | proverb | to the ground | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to ground=Theme | ||||
| 6 | die | past | proverb | thus property | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | ||||
| 7 | hold | proverb | nom hold «act transitive»: poss=agent |
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/pg75089/8/49/