In Ghostly Japan, Story of a Tengu[1], sentence 77
There is plenty of fun in helping at such work; and if you are a stranger, the fisher-folk will perhaps reward your pains by showing you the wonders of their sea: crabs with legs of astonishing length, balloon-fish that blow themselves up in the most absurd manner, and various other creatures of shapes so extraordinary that you can scarcely believe them natural without touching them.
Who acts: plenty, fun, you, fisher folk, legs, balloon fish · What happens: be, help, reward, show, astonish, blow up · To what, where: such work, stranger, pains, wonders, you, length
This is a sentence of «In Ghostly Japan» by Lafcadio Hearn, Story of a Tengu[1]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (plenty, fun, you, fisher folk), 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 | There | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 2 is | expl |
| 2 | is | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | plenty | plenty | NOUN | Number=Sing | 2 is | nsubj |
| 4 | of | of | ADP | _ | 5 fun | case |
| 5 | fun | fun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 plenty | nmod |
| 6 | in | in | SCONJ | _ | 7 helping | mark |
| 7 | helping | help | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 5 fun | acl |
| 8 | at | at | ADP | _ | 10 work | case |
| 9 | such | such | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 10 work | amod |
| 10 | work | work | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 helping | obl |
| 11 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 25 reward | punct |
| 12 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 reward | cc |
| 13 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 17 stranger | mark |
| 14 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 17 stranger | nsubj |
| 15 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 17 stranger | cop |
| 16 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 17 stranger | det |
| 17 | stranger | stranger | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 reward | advcl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 stranger | punct |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 folk | det |
| 20 | fisher | fisher | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 folk | compound |
| 21 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 20 fisher | punct |
| 22 | folk | folk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 reward | nsubj |
| 23 | will | will | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 25 reward | aux |
| 24 | perhaps | perhaps | ADV | _ | 25 reward | advmod |
| 25 | reward | reward | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 is | parataxis |
| 26 | your | your | PRON | Case=Gen Person=2 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 pains | nmod:poss |
| 27 | pains | pain | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 reward | obj |
| 28 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 29 showing | mark |
| 29 | showing | show | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 25 reward | advcl |
| 30 | you | you | PRON | Case=Acc Person=2 PronType=Prs | 29 showing | iobj |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 wonders | det |
| 32 | wonders | wonder | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 showing | obj |
| 33 | of | of | ADP | _ | 35 sea | case |
| 34 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 35 sea | nmod:poss |
| 35 | sea | sea | NOUN | Number=Sing | 32 wonders | nmod |
| 36 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 37 crabs | punct |
| 37 | crabs | crab | NOUN | Number=Plur | 32 wonders | conj |
| 38 | with | with | ADP | _ | 39 legs | case |
| 39 | legs | leg | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 crabs | nmod |
| 40 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 41 astonishing | mark |
| 41 | astonishing | astonish | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 39 legs | acl |
| 42 | length | length | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 astonishing | obj |
| 43 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 46 fish | punct |
| 44 | balloon | balloon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 46 fish | compound |
| 45 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 44 balloon | punct |
| 46 | fish | fish | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 length | conj |
| 47 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 48 blow | nsubj |
| 48 | blow | blow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 46 fish | acl:relcl |
| 49 | themselves | themselves | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 48 blow | obj |
| 50 | up | up | ADP | _ | 48 blow | compound:prt |
| 51 | in | in | ADP | _ | 55 manner | case |
| 52 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 55 manner | det |
| 53 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 54 absurd | advmod |
| 54 | absurd | absurd | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 55 manner | amod |
| 55 | manner | manner | NOUN | Number=Sing | 48 blow | obl |
| 56 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 60 creatures | punct |
| 57 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 60 creatures | cc |
| 58 | various | various | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 60 creatures | amod |
| 59 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 60 creatures | amod |
| 60 | creatures | creature | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 crabs | conj |
| 61 | of | of | ADP | _ | 62 shapes | case |
| 62 | shapes | shape | NOUN | Number=Plur | 60 creatures | nmod |
| 63 | so | so | ADV | _ | 64 extraordinary | advmod |
| 64 | extraordinary | extraordinary | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 60 creatures | acl:relcl |
| 65 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 69 believe | mark |
| 66 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 69 believe | nsubj |
| 67 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 69 believe | aux |
| 68 | scarcely | scarcely | ADV | _ | 69 believe | advmod |
| 69 | believe | believe | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 64 extraordinary | advcl |
| 70 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 69 believe | obj |
| 71 | natural | natural | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 69 believe | xcomp |
| 72 | without | without | SCONJ | _ | 73 touching | mark |
| 73 | touching | touch | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 71 natural | advcl |
| 74 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 73 touching | obj |
| 75 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 is | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | be | present | plenty of fun | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | help | gerund | fun not said here | such work | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | is a a condition, not said to happen | present | you | a stranger | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | reward | future | the fisher folk | your pains | perhaps property | vn equip-13.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent pain=Recipient | |||
| 5 | show | gerund | the fisher folk not said here | the wonders of wonders's sea and crabs with legs and various other creatures of shapes | you | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient wonder=Topic | |||
| 6 | astonish | gerund | legs not said here | length and balloon fish | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus length=Experiencer | ||||
| 7 | blow up | present | balloon fish | length | in the absurd manner | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient PP.theme»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient in manner=Topic | |||
| 8 | believe | can | you | length | natural, scarcely property | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer they=Stimulus | |||
| 9 | touch | gerund | you not said here | length | vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Co-Theme | ||||
| 10 | pain | your | nom pain «state transitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 11 | wonder | wonders's sea | nom wonder «feeling transitive»: of=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: «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/pg8128/27/77/