Peter Pan, Chapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME, sentence 165
There could not have been a lovelier sight; but there was none to see it except a little boy who was staring in at the window.
Who acts: lovelier sight, none, little boy · What happens: not be, be, see, stare · To what, where: sight
This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lovelier sight, none, little boy), 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 | There | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 5 been | expl |
| 2 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 5 been | aux |
| 3 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 5 been | advmod |
| 4 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 5 been | aux |
| 5 | been | be | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 6 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 sight | det |
| 7 | lovelier | lovely | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 8 sight | amod |
| 8 | sight | sight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 been | nsubj |
| 9 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 5 been | punct |
| 10 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 12 was | cc |
| 11 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 12 was | expl |
| 12 | was | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 been | parataxis |
| 13 | none | none | PRON | PronType=Neg | 12 was | nsubj |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 see | mark |
| 15 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 none | acl |
| 16 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 see | obj |
| 17 | except | except | ADP | _ | 20 boy | case |
| 18 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 20 boy | det |
| 19 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 boy | amod |
| 20 | boy | boy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 see | obl |
| 21 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 23 staring | nsubj |
| 22 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 staring | aux |
| 23 | staring | stare | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 20 boy | acl:relcl |
| 24 | in | in | ADV | _ | 23 staring | advmod |
| 25 | at | at | ADP | _ | 27 window | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 window | det |
| 27 | window | window | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 staring | obl |
| 28 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 been | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not can | could · perfect | a lovelier sight | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | be | past | none | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | see | to-infinitive | none not said here | sight | except a little boy | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | |||
| 4 | stare | past · progressive | a little boy | at the window | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at window=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: «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Project Gutenberg book 16 (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/pg16/17/165/