In Ghostly Japan, Opening, sentence 109
A bundle of common incense-rods—(they are about as thick as an ordinary pencil-lead, and somewhat longer)—can be bought for a few sen; while a bundle of better quality, presenting to inexperienced eyes only some difference in color, may cost several yen, and be cheap at the price.
Who acts: kinds, better quality · What happens: be, buy, present, cost · To what, where: bundle, inexperienced eyes, several yen, price
This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (kinds, better quality), 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 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 bundle | det |
| 2 | bundle | bundle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 bought | nsubj |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 7 rods | case |
| 4 | common | common | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 rods | amod |
| 5 | incense | incense | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 rods | compound |
| 6 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 5 incense | punct |
| 7 | rods | rod | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 bundle | nmod |
| 8 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 14 thick | punct |
| 9 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 14 thick | punct |
| 10 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 thick | nsubj |
| 11 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 thick | cop |
| 12 | about | about | ADV | _ | 14 thick | advmod |
| 13 | as | as | ADV | _ | 14 thick | advmod |
| 14 | thick | thick | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 bundle | amod |
| 15 | as | as | ADP | _ | 20 lead | case |
| 16 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 lead | det |
| 17 | ordinary | ordinary | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 lead | amod |
| 18 | pencil | pencil | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 lead | compound |
| 19 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 18 pencil | punct |
| 20 | lead | lead | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 thick | obl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 longer | punct |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 longer | cc |
| 23 | somewhat | somewhat | ADV | _ | 24 longer | advmod |
| 24 | longer | long | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 14 thick | advmod |
| 25 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 24 longer | punct |
| 26 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 2 bundle | punct |
| 27 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 29 bought | aux |
| 28 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 29 bought | aux:pass |
| 29 | bought | buy | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 30 | for | for | ADP | _ | 33 sen | case |
| 31 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 33 sen | det |
| 32 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 sen | amod |
| 33 | sen | sen | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 bought | obl |
| 34 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 53 cost | punct |
| 35 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 37 bundle | mark |
| 36 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 37 bundle | det |
| 37 | bundle | bundle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 cost | advcl |
| 38 | of | of | ADP | _ | 40 quality | case |
| 39 | better | good | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 40 quality | amod |
| 40 | quality | quality | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 bundle | nmod |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 presenting | punct |
| 42 | presenting | present | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 40 quality | acl |
| 43 | to | to | ADP | _ | 45 eyes | case |
| 44 | inexperienced | inexperienced | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 45 eyes | amod |
| 45 | eyes | eye | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 presenting | obl |
| 46 | only | only | ADV | _ | 48 difference | advmod |
| 47 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 48 difference | det |
| 48 | difference | difference | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 eyes | nmod |
| 49 | in | in | ADP | _ | 50 color | case |
| 50 | color | color | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 difference | nmod |
| 51 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 bundle | punct |
| 52 | may | may | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 53 cost | aux |
| 53 | cost | cost | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 bought | conj |
| 54 | several | several | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 55 yen | amod |
| 55 | yen | yen | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 cost | obj |
| 56 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 59 cheap | punct |
| 57 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 59 cheap | cc |
| 58 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 59 cheap | cop |
| 59 | cheap | cheap | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 53 cost | conj |
| 60 | at | at | ADP | _ | 62 price | case |
| 61 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 62 price | det |
| 62 | price | price | NOUN | Number=Sing | 59 cheap | obl |
| 63 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 29 bought | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | present | kinds = kind | as a ordinary pencil lead; about, long, thick property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | buy | can · passive | a bundle of common incense rods | for a few sen | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Theme for sen=Beneficiary | ||||
| 3 | present | gerund | better quality not said here | inexperienced eyes some difference in color | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to eye=Recipient | ||||
| 4 | cost | may | several yen | a bundle of better quality advcl | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme yen=Value | ||||
| 5 | is | infinitive | the price | cheap property | 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: «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Project Gutenberg book 8128 (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/pg8128/1/109/