The Book of Dragons, Opening, part 7, sentence 131
Before they started, the white grouse thanked them in a few pleasant, well-chosen words, and then they took a sideways slanting run and started off again on the great slide, and so away toward the North Pole and the twinkling, beautiful lights.
Who acts: Father, white grouse · What happens: start, thank, choose, take, slant, start off · To what, where: Father, few pleasant, slanting run, great slide
This is a sentence of «The Book of Dragons» by E. Nesbit, Opening, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Father, white grouse), 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 | Before | before | SCONJ | _ | 3 started | mark |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 started | nsubj |
| 3 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 thanked | advcl |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 3 started | punct |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 grouse | det |
| 6 | white | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 grouse | amod |
| 7 | grouse | grouse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 thanked | nsubj |
| 8 | thanked | thank | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 thanked | obj |
| 10 | in | in | ADP | _ | 13 pleasant | case |
| 11 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 pleasant | det |
| 12 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 pleasant | amod |
| 13 | pleasant | pleasant | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 thanked | obl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 words | punct |
| 15 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 17 chosen | advmod |
| 16 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 15 well | punct |
| 17 | chosen | choose | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 18 words | amod |
| 18 | words | word | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 pleasant | conj |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 took | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 23 took | cc |
| 21 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 23 took | advmod |
| 22 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 took | nsubj |
| 23 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 thanked | conj |
| 24 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 27 run | det |
| 25 | sideways | sideways | ADV | _ | 26 slanting | advmod |
| 26 | slanting | slant | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 27 run | amod |
| 27 | run | run | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 took | obj |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 started | cc |
| 29 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 23 took | conj |
| 30 | off | off | ADP | _ | 29 started | compound:prt |
| 31 | again | again | ADV | _ | 29 started | advmod |
| 32 | on | on | ADP | _ | 35 slide | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 35 slide | det |
| 34 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 35 slide | amod |
| 35 | slide | slide | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 started | obl |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 away | punct |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 away | cc |
| 38 | so | so | ADV | _ | 39 away | advmod |
| 39 | away | away | ADV | _ | 23 took | advmod |
| 40 | toward | toward | ADP | _ | 43 Pole | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 Pole | det |
| 42 | North | North | PROPN | Number=Sing | 43 Pole | compound |
| 43 | Pole | Pole | PROPN | Number=Sing | 39 away | obl |
| 44 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 46 twinkling | cc |
| 45 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 twinkling | det |
| 46 | twinkling | twinkling | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 Pole | conj |
| 47 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 49 lights | punct |
| 48 | beautiful | beautiful | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 49 lights | amod |
| 49 | lights | light | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 took | obl |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 thanked | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | start | past | Father | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | thank speech: thank | past | the white grouse | Father | a few pleasant and chosen words | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | |||
| 3 | choose | participle | well property | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 4 | take | past | Father | a slanting run | then | beautiful lights obl; away property | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent run=Theme | ||
| 5 | slant | gerund | sideways property | vn meander-47.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 6 | start off | past | Father not said here | the great slide | again | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
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/pg23661/7/131/