Gleanings from Chinese folklore, A Chinese Hero, sentence 64
The enemy were seen coming upon them from the front, and then Han Hsin called to his men to fight for their lives, for death was certainly behind them in the river, but, if they fought bravely, they could defeat the enemy in front.
Who acts: enemy, Han, officers · What happens: see, come, call, fight, be, defeat · To what, where: enemy, front, men, river · Speech: someone speaks here
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 (enemy, Han, officers), 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 enemy | det |
| 2 | enemy | enemy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 seen | nsubj |
| 3 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 seen | aux:pass |
| 4 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 5 | coming | come | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 4 seen | xcomp |
| 6 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 7 them | case |
| 7 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 coming | obl |
| 8 | from | from | ADP | _ | 10 front | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 front | det |
| 10 | front | front | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 coming | obl |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 called | punct |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 called | cc |
| 13 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 16 called | advmod |
| 14 | Han | Han | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 called | nsubj |
| 15 | Hsin | Hsin | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 Han | flat |
| 16 | called | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 seen | parataxis |
| 17 | to | to | ADP | _ | 19 men | case |
| 18 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 men | nmod:poss |
| 19 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 called | obl |
| 20 | to | to | PART | _ | 21 fight | mark |
| 21 | fight | fight | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 called | advcl |
| 22 | for | for | ADP | _ | 24 lives | case |
| 23 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 24 lives | nmod:poss |
| 24 | lives | life | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 fight | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 death | punct |
| 26 | for | for | ADP | _ | 27 death | case |
| 27 | death | death | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 seen | obl |
| 28 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 them | cop |
| 29 | certainly | certainly | ADV | _ | 31 them | advmod |
| 30 | behind | behind | ADP | _ | 31 them | case |
| 31 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 death | nmod |
| 32 | in | in | ADP | _ | 34 river | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 river | det |
| 34 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 them | nmod |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 defeat | punct |
| 36 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 45 defeat | cc |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 but | punct |
| 38 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 40 fought | mark |
| 39 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 fought | nsubj |
| 40 | fought | fight | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 defeat | advcl |
| 41 | bravely | bravely | ADV | _ | 40 fought | advmod |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 fought | punct |
| 43 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 45 defeat | nsubj |
| 44 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 45 defeat | aux |
| 45 | defeat | defeat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 seen | conj |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 enemy | det |
| 47 | enemy | enemy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 defeat | obj |
| 48 | in | in | ADP | _ | 49 front | case |
| 49 | front | front | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 defeat | obl |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 seen | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | see | past · passive | the enemy | for death | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | come | gerund | the enemy not said here | the front | upon officers = officer | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from front=Initial_Location | |||
| 3 | call | past | Han | Han's men | then | vn animal_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to man=Recipient | |||
| 4 | fight | to-infinitive | Han not said here | for officers's lives | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | is | past | the river | behind officers = officer; certainly property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | fight a condition, not said to happen | past | officers = officer | bravely property | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 7 | defeat | could | officers = officer | the enemy | front | tree rules |
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/pg75089/9/64/