Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat, Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh., sentence 279
While they were in high debate, the commander-in-chief heard a noise in the courtyard and guessing its cause, said with a smile and a shrug of his shoulders: “I am afraid we are too late, gentlemen.
Who acts: nobles, chief, we, shoulders · What happens: be, hear, guess, say, cause, shrug · To what, where: high debate, noise, courtyard, cause · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, Makhdum Niamat Ullah and Makhdum Nuh.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (nobles, chief, we, shoulders), 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 | While | while | SCONJ | _ | 6 debate | mark |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 debate | nsubj |
| 3 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 debate | cop |
| 4 | in | in | ADP | _ | 6 debate | case |
| 5 | high | high | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 debate | amod |
| 6 | debate | debate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 heard | advcl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 debate | punct |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 chief | det |
| 9 | commander | commander | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 chief | nsubj |
| 10 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 13 chief | punct |
| 11 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 chief | case |
| 12 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 11 in | punct |
| 13 | chief | chief | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 heard | nsubj |
| 14 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 15 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 16 noise | det |
| 16 | noise | noise | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 heard | obj |
| 17 | in | in | ADP | _ | 19 courtyard | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 courtyard | det |
| 19 | courtyard | courtyard | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 heard | obl |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 guessing | cc |
| 21 | guessing | guess | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 19 courtyard | conj |
| 22 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 cause | nmod:poss |
| 23 | cause | cause | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 guessing | obj |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 said | punct |
| 25 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 heard | conj |
| 26 | with | with | ADP | _ | 28 smile | case |
| 27 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 28 smile | det |
| 28 | smile | smile | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 said | obl |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 shrug | cc |
| 30 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 31 shrug | det |
| 31 | shrug | shrug | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 smile | conj |
| 32 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 shoulders | case |
| 33 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 34 shoulders | nmod:poss |
| 34 | shoulders | shoulder | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 shrug | nmod |
| 35 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 39 afraid | punct |
| 36 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 39 afraid | punct |
| 37 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 39 afraid | nsubj |
| 38 | am | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 39 afraid | cop |
| 39 | afraid | afraid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 25 said | parataxis |
| 40 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 43 late | nsubj |
| 41 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 43 late | cop |
| 42 | too | too | ADV | _ | 43 late | advmod |
| 43 | late | late | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 39 afraid | ccomp |
| 44 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 gentlemen | punct |
| 45 | gentlemen | gentleman | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 afraid | vocative |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 14 heard | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | nobles = noble | high debate | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | hear | past | the chief commander | a noise | the courtyard | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer noise=Stimulus | |||
| 3 | guess | gerund | the chief commander not said here | chief's cause | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cause=Theme | ||||
| 4 | say speech: assert | past | the chief commander not said here | with a smile and a shrug of commander's shoulders | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||
| 5 | is in a quote | present | the chief commander = chief | gentlemen vocative; afraid property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | is in a quote | present | we | late property | tree rules | ||||
| 7 | cause | chief | nom cause «event transitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 8 | shrug | commander's shoulders | nom shrug «communication intransitive»: of=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: «Folk tales of Sind and Guzarat» by C. A. Kincaid, Project Gutenberg book 76982 (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/pg76982/10/279/