The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 16, sentence 85
In spite of all I could say to deter them, the merchants who were with me fell upon it with their hatchets, breaking the shell, and killing the young roc.
Who acts: I, merchants · What happens: say, deter, fall, break, kill · To what, where: merchants, spite, shell, young roc · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, merchants), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher. This tree is Mova's own parse (the en model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | In | in | ADP | _ | 2 spite | case |
| 2 | spite | spite | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 fell | obl |
| 3 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 all | case |
| 4 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 2 spite | nmod |
| 5 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 7 say | nsubj |
| 6 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 7 say | aux |
| 7 | say | say | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 all | acl:relcl |
| 8 | to | to | PART | _ | 9 deter | mark |
| 9 | deter | deter | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 say | xcomp |
| 10 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 deter | obj |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 2 spite | punct |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 merchants | det |
| 13 | merchants | merchant | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 fell | nsubj |
| 14 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 15 were | nsubj |
| 15 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 merchants | acl:relcl |
| 16 | with | with | ADP | _ | 17 me | case |
| 17 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 15 were | obl |
| 18 | fell | fall | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 19 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 20 it | case |
| 20 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 18 fell | obl |
| 21 | with | with | ADP | _ | 23 hatchets | case |
| 22 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 hatchets | nmod:poss |
| 23 | hatchets | hatchet | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 fell | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 breaking | punct |
| 25 | breaking | break | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 18 fell | advcl |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 shell | det |
| 27 | shell | shell | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 breaking | obj |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 killing | punct |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 killing | cc |
| 30 | killing | kill | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 25 breaking | advcl |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 roc | det |
| 32 | young | young | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 roc | amod |
| 33 | roc | roc | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 killing | obj |
| 34 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 18 fell | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | say speech: assert | could | I | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 2 | deter | to-infinitive | I not said here | merchants = merchant | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer they=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | fall | past | the merchants | spite of all | upon spite; with merchants's hatchets | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in spite=Location | |||
| 4 | break | gerund | the merchants not said here | the shell | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer shell=Patient | ||||
| 5 | kill | gerund | the merchants not said here | the young roc | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent roc=Theme |
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: «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 128 (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/pg128/16/85/