The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 5, sentence 47
He was just getting ready to drop it on the floor, and end its life in the usual way, when it shook itself in the spoon--spread two wet wings, and flopped onto the tablecloth.
Who acts: brother, earwig · What happens: get, drop, end, shake, spread, flop · To what, where: earwig, floor, life, usual way, spoon, two wet wings
This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brother, earwig), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 getting | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 getting | aux |
| 3 | just | just | ADV | _ | 4 getting | advmod |
| 4 | getting | get | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 5 | ready | ready | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 getting | xcomp |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 drop | mark |
| 7 | drop | drop | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 ready | xcomp |
| 8 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 drop | obj |
| 9 | on | on | ADP | _ | 11 floor | case |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 floor | det |
| 11 | floor | floor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 drop | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 end | punct |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 end | cc |
| 14 | end | end | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 4 getting | parataxis |
| 15 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 life | nmod:poss |
| 16 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 end | obj |
| 17 | in | in | ADP | _ | 20 way | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 way | det |
| 19 | usual | usual | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 way | amod |
| 20 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 end | obl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 shook | punct |
| 22 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 24 shook | mark |
| 23 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 shook | nsubj |
| 24 | shook | shake | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 getting | conj |
| 25 | itself | itself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 24 shook | obj |
| 26 | in | in | ADP | _ | 28 spoon | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 spoon | det |
| 28 | spoon | spoon | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 shook | obl |
| 29 | -- | -- | PUNCT | _ | 30 spread | punct |
| 30 | spread | spread | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 shook | conj |
| 31 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 33 wings | nummod |
| 32 | wet | wet | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 wings | amod |
| 33 | wings | wing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 30 spread | obj |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 flopped | punct |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 flopped | cc |
| 36 | flopped | flop | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 shook | conj |
| 37 | onto | onto | ADP | _ | 39 tablecloth | case |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 tablecloth | det |
| 39 | tablecloth | tablecloth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 flopped | obl |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 getting | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | get | past · progressive | brother | ready property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 2 | drop | to-infinitive | brother not said here | earwig | the floor | vn put_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme on floor=Destination | |||
| 3 | end | infinitive | earwig's life | the usual way | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality life=Eventuality | ||||
| 4 | shake | past | earwig | earwig | the spoon | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent itself=Theme in spoon=Trajectory | |||
| 5 | spread | past | earwig not said here | two wet wings | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location wing=Theme | ||||
| 6 | flop | past | earwig not said here | the tablecloth | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
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/pg23661/5/47/