Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Chinese Hero, sentence 101
Often during the time of kite-flying in China, away in the heavens one sees a kite in the shape of an old-time warrior, and few of the many beautiful and fancy kites to be seen have such an interesting story.
Who acts: time, few · What happens: fly, see, have · To what, where: one, China, kite, shape, interesting story
This is a sentence of «Gleanings from Chinese folklore» by Nellie Naomi Russell, A Chinese Hero. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (time, few), 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 | Often | often | ADV | _ | 4 time | advmod |
| 2 | during | during | ADP | _ | 4 time | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 time | det |
| 4 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 sees | nsubj |
| 5 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 8 flying | mark |
| 6 | kite | kite | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 flying | compound |
| 7 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 6 kite | punct |
| 8 | flying | fly | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 4 time | acl |
| 9 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 China | case |
| 10 | China | China | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 flying | obl |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 away | punct |
| 12 | away | away | ADV | _ | 8 flying | advmod |
| 13 | in | in | ADP | _ | 15 heavens | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 heavens | det |
| 15 | heavens | heaven | NOUN | Number=Plur | 12 away | obl |
| 16 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 8 flying | obj |
| 17 | sees | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 18 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 19 kite | det |
| 19 | kite | kite | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 sees | obj |
| 20 | in | in | ADP | _ | 22 shape | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 shape | det |
| 22 | shape | shape | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 sees | obl |
| 23 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 warrior | case |
| 24 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 28 warrior | det |
| 25 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 time | amod |
| 26 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 25 old | punct |
| 27 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 warrior | compound |
| 28 | warrior | warrior | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 shape | nmod |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 few | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 few | cc |
| 31 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 have | nsubj |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 38 kites | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 kites | det |
| 34 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 kites | amod |
| 35 | beautiful | beautiful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 38 kites | amod |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 37 fancy | cc |
| 37 | fancy | fancy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 35 beautiful | conj |
| 38 | kites | kite | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 few | nmod |
| 39 | to | to | PART | _ | 41 seen | mark |
| 40 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 41 seen | aux:pass |
| 41 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 38 kites | acl |
| 42 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 17 sees | parataxis |
| 43 | such | such | DET | PronType=Ind | 46 story | det:predet |
| 44 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 46 story | det |
| 45 | interesting | interesting | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 46 story | amod |
| 46 | story | story | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 have | obj |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 17 sees | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | fly | gerund | the time not said here | one | China | kite compound; away property | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent one=Theme in china=Location | ||
| 2 | see | present | the time | a kite | the shape of a time warrior | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer kite=Stimulus | |||
| 3 | see | to-infinitive · passive | few of the many beautiful kites not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V» | |||||
| 4 | have | present | few of the many beautiful kites | such interesting story | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=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/pg75089/9/101/