The Book of Dragons, The Dragon Tamers], sentence 170
Then tourists used to come in breaks from quite a long way off, and pay twopence each to go down the steps and peep through the iron grating at the rusty dragon in the dungeon--and it was threepence extra for each party if the blacksmith let off colored fire to see it by, which, as the fire was extremely short, was twopence-halfpenny clear profit every time.
Who acts: tourists, iron, twopence, blacksmith, colored fire, fire · What happens: use, come, pay, go down, peep, grate · To what, where: halfpenny clear profit, breaks, twopence, steps, threepence, colored fire
This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, The Dragon Tamers]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tourists, iron, twopence, blacksmith), 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 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 3 used | advmod |
| 2 | tourists | tourist | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 used | nsubj |
| 3 | used | use | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | to | to | PART | _ | 5 come | mark |
| 5 | come | come | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 used | xcomp |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 breaks | case |
| 7 | breaks | break | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 come | obl |
| 8 | from | from | ADP | _ | 12 way | case |
| 9 | quite | quite | DET | PronType=Ind | 12 way | det:predet |
| 10 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 12 way | det |
| 11 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 way | amod |
| 12 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 come | obl |
| 13 | off | off | ADV | _ | 12 way | advmod |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 pay | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 pay | cc |
| 16 | pay | pay | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 3 used | parataxis |
| 17 | twopence | twopence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 pay | obj |
| 18 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 16 pay | obj |
| 19 | to | to | PART | _ | 20 go | mark |
| 20 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 pay | advcl |
| 21 | down | down | ADP | _ | 23 steps | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 steps | det |
| 23 | steps | step | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 go | obl |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 peep | cc |
| 25 | peep | peep | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 pay | conj |
| 26 | through | through | ADP | _ | 28 iron | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 iron | det |
| 28 | iron | iron | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 peep | obl |
| 29 | grating | grate | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 28 iron | acl |
| 30 | at | at | ADP | _ | 33 dragon | case |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 dragon | det |
| 32 | rusty | rusty | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 dragon | amod |
| 33 | dragon | dragon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 grating | obl |
| 34 | in | in | ADP | _ | 36 dungeon | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 dungeon | det |
| 36 | dungeon | dungeon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 dragon | nmod |
| 37 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 41 threepence | punct |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 41 threepence | cc |
| 39 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 41 threepence | nsubj |
| 40 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 41 threepence | cop |
| 41 | threepence | threepence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 used | parataxis |
| 42 | extra | extra | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 41 threepence | amod |
| 43 | for | for | ADP | _ | 45 party | case |
| 44 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 45 party | det |
| 45 | party | party | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 extra | obl |
| 46 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 49 let | mark |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 blacksmith | det |
| 48 | blacksmith | blacksmith | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 let | nsubj |
| 49 | let | let | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 41 threepence | acl |
| 50 | off | off | ADP | _ | 49 let | compound:prt |
| 51 | colored | color | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 52 fire | amod |
| 52 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 let | obj |
| 53 | to | to | PART | _ | 54 see | mark |
| 54 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 49 let | xcomp |
| 55 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 54 see | obj |
| 56 | by | by | ADP | _ | 58 which | case |
| 57 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 58 which | punct |
| 58 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 54 see | obj |
| 59 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 65 short | punct |
| 60 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 65 short | mark |
| 61 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 62 fire | det |
| 62 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 65 short | nsubj |
| 63 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 65 short | cop |
| 64 | extremely | extremely | ADV | _ | 65 short | advmod |
| 65 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 54 see | parataxis |
| 66 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 70 halfpenny | punct |
| 67 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 70 halfpenny | cop |
| 68 | twopence | twopence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 70 halfpenny | compound |
| 69 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 68 twopence | punct |
| 70 | halfpenny | halfpenny | NOUN | Number=Sing | 72 profit | compound |
| 71 | clear | clear | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 72 profit | amod |
| 72 | profit | profit | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 used | obj |
| 73 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 74 time | det |
| 74 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 used | obl:unmarked |
| 75 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 used | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | use | past | tourists | halfpenny clear profit | then; time | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Agent profit=Theme clause=Eventuality | |||
| 2 | come | to-infinitive | tourists not said here | breaks | from quite long way | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from way=Initial_Location | |||
| 3 | pay | present | twopence | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent twopence=Recipient each=Asset | |||||
| 4 | go down | to-infinitive | the steps | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient step=Extent | |||||
| 5 | peep | present | through the iron | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent through iron=Theme | |||||
| 6 | grate | gerund | the iron not said here | at the rusty dragon in the dungeon | vn appeal-31.4-1 «NP V PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus at dragon=Experiencer | ||||
| 7 | is a | past | twopence | threepence | tree rules | ||||
| 8 | let off a condition, not said to happen | infinitive | the blacksmith | colored fire | tree rules | ||||
| 9 | color | participle | vn coloring-24 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 10 | see | to-infinitive | colored fire not said here | twopence | tree rules | ||||
| 11 | is | past | the fire | extremely, short property | tree rules | ||||
| 12 | is a | past | twopence halfpenny | 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: «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Project Gutenberg book 23661 (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/pg23661/12/170/