The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 12

It is only plain that, perhaps a hundred thousand years ago, some savage grandmother told a tale to a savage granddaughter; that the granddaughter told it in her turn; that various tellers made changes to suit their taste, adding or omitting features and incidents; that, as the world grew civilised, other alterations were made, and that, at last, Homer composed the “Odyssey,” and somebody else composed the Story of Jason and the Fleece of Gold, and the enchantress Medea, out of a set of wandering popular tales, which are still told among Samoyeds and Samoans, Hindoos and Japanese.

Who acts: rule, savage grandmother, granddaughter, that, various tellers, changes · What happens: be, tell, teller, make, suit, add · To what, where: tale, savage granddaughter, rule, turn, changes, taste · Speech: someone speaks here

This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rule, savage grandmother, granddaughter, that), 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	It	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	4 plain	nsubj
2	is	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	4 plain	cop
3	only	only	ADV	_	4 plain	advmod
4	plain	plain	ADJ	Degree=Pos	root	root
5	that	that	SCONJ	_	12 ago	mark
6	,	,	PUNCT	_	12 ago	punct
7	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	_	10 thousand	advmod
8	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	9 hundred	det
9	hundred	hundred	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	10 thousand	compound
10	thousand	thousand	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	11 years	nummod
11	years	year	NOUN	Number=Plur	12 ago	obl:unmarked
12	ago	ago	ADV	_	4 plain	advcl
13	,	,	PUNCT	_	17 told	punct
14	some	some	DET	PronType=Ind	16 grandmother	det
15	savage	savage	ADJ	Degree=Pos	16 grandmother	amod
16	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 told	nsubj
17	told	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 plain	parataxis
18	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	19 tale	det
19	tale	tale	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 told	obj
20	to	to	ADP	_	23 granddaughter	case
21	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	23 granddaughter	det
22	savage	savage	ADJ	Degree=Pos	23 granddaughter	amod
23	granddaughter	granddaughter	NOUN	Number=Sing	17 told	obl
24	;	;	PUNCT	_	28 told	punct
25	that	that	SCONJ	_	28 told	mark
26	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	27 granddaughter	det
27	granddaughter	granddaughter	NOUN	Number=Sing	28 told	nsubj
28	told	tell	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 plain	parataxis
29	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	28 told	obj
30	in	in	ADP	_	32 turn	case
31	her	her	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	32 turn	nmod:poss
32	turn	turn	NOUN	Number=Sing	28 told	obl
33	;	;	PUNCT	_	37 made	punct
34	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	36 tellers	nsubj
35	various	various	ADJ	Degree=Pos	36 tellers	amod
36	tellers	teller	NOUN	Number=Plur	37 made	nsubj
37	made	make	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 plain	parataxis
38	changes	change	NOUN	Number=Plur	37 made	obj
39	to	to	PART	_	40 suit	mark
40	suit	suit	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	37 made	xcomp
41	their	their	PRON	Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	42 taste	nmod:poss
42	taste	taste	NOUN	Number=Sing	40 suit	obj
43	,	,	PUNCT	_	44 adding	punct
44	adding	add	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	40 suit	advcl
45	or	or	CCONJ	_	46 omitting	cc
46	omitting	omit	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	44 adding	conj
47	features	feature	NOUN	Number=Plur	46 omitting	obj
48	and	and	CCONJ	_	49 incidents	cc
49	incidents	incident	NOUN	Number=Plur	47 features	conj
50	;	;	PUNCT	_	51 that	punct
51	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	4 plain	obl
52	,	,	PUNCT	_	56 grew	punct
53	as	as	SCONJ	_	56 grew	mark
54	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	55 world	det
55	world	world	NOUN	Number=Sing	56 grew	nsubj
56	grew	grow	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	4 plain	parataxis
57	civilised	civilise	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	56 grew	xcomp
58	,	,	PUNCT	_	62 made	punct
59	other	other	ADJ	Degree=Pos	60 alterations	amod
60	alterations	alteration	NOUN	Number=Plur	62 made	nsubj:pass
61	were	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	62 made	aux:pass
62	made	make	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	56 grew	conj
63	,	,	PUNCT	_	65 that	punct
64	and	and	CCONJ	_	65 that	cc
65	that	that	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	62 made	obj
66	,	,	PUNCT	_	65 that	punct
67	at	at	ADP	_	68 last	case
68	last	last	ADJ	Degree=Pos	62 made	obl
69	,	,	PUNCT	_	71 composed	punct
70	Homer	Homer	PROPN	Number=Sing	71 composed	nsubj
71	composed	compose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	62 made	parataxis
72	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	74 Odyssey	det
73	“	"	PUNCT	_	74 Odyssey	punct
74	Odyssey	Odyssey	PROPN	Number=Sing	71 composed	obj
75	,	,	PUNCT	_	74 Odyssey	punct
76	”	"	PUNCT	_	71 composed	punct
77	and	and	CCONJ	_	80 composed	cc
78	somebody	somebody	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	80 composed	nsubj
79	else	else	ADV	_	78 somebody	advmod
80	composed	compose	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	71 composed	conj
81	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	82 Story	det
82	Story	Story	PROPN	Number=Sing	80 composed	obj
83	of	of	ADP	_	84 Jason	case
84	Jason	Jason	PROPN	Number=Sing	82 Story	nmod
85	and	and	CCONJ	_	87 Fleece	cc
86	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	87 Fleece	det
87	Fleece	fleece	NOUN	Number=Sing	82 Story	conj
88	of	of	ADP	_	89 Gold	case
89	Gold	gold	NOUN	Number=Sing	87 Fleece	nmod
90	,	,	PUNCT	_	93 enchantress	punct
91	and	and	CCONJ	_	93 enchantress	cc
92	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	93 enchantress	det
93	enchantress	enchantress	NOUN	Number=Sing	4 plain	conj
94	Medea	Medea	PROPN	Number=Sing	93 enchantress	appos
95	,	,	PUNCT	_	99 set	punct
96	out	out	ADP	_	99 set	case
97	of	of	ADP	_	99 set	case
98	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	99 set	det
99	set	set	NOUN	Number=Sing	93 enchantress	appos
100	of	of	SCONJ	_	101 wandering	mark
101	wandering	wonder	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	99 set	acl
102	popular	popular	ADJ	Degree=Pos	103 tales	amod
103	tales	tale	NOUN	Number=Plur	101 wandering	obj
104	,	,	PUNCT	_	108 told	punct
105	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	108 told	nsubj:pass
106	are	be	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	108 told	aux:pass
107	still	still	ADV	_	108 told	advmod
108	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	103 tales	acl:relcl
109	among	among	ADP	_	110 Samoyeds	case
110	Samoyeds	samoyed	NOUN	Number=Plur	108 told	iobj
111	and	and	CCONJ	_	112 Samoans	cc
112	Samoans	Samoan	PROPN	Number=Plur	110 Samoyeds	conj
113	,	,	PUNCT	_	114 Hindoos	punct
114	Hindoos	Hindoos	PROPN	Number=Sing	110 Samoyeds	nmod
115	and	and	CCONJ	_	116 Japanese	cc
116	Japanese	Japanese	PROPN	Number=Sing	114 Hindoos	conj
117	.	.	PUNCT	_	4 plain	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	is	present	rule					that obl; plain property	tree rules
2	tell speech: assert	past	some savage grandmother	a tale	a savage granddaughter				vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent tale=Topic to granddaughter=Recipient
3	tell speech: assert	past	the granddaughter		rule	granddaughter's turn			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent it=Recipient
4	teller		that						tree rules
5	make	past	various tellers	changes					tree rules
6	suit	to-infinitive	changes not said here	tellers's taste					tree rules
7	add speech: assert	gerund	changes not said here						vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient
8	omit	gerund	changes not said here	features and incidents					vn exclude-107.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent feature=Theme
9	grow	past	the world						tree rules
10	civilise	participle	the world not said here						tree rules
11	make	past · passive		other alterations		last			vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary that=Product
12	compose	past	Homer	the Odyssey					vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent odyssey=Result
13	compose	past	somebody	the Story of Jason and the Fleece of Gold					vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent story=Result
14	wonder speech: ask	gerund	popular tales	a set not said here					tree rules
15	tell speech: assert	present · passive		popular tales	Samoyeds Hindoos and Japanese and Samoans		still		vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient samoyed=Topic
16	taste		tellers = teller						nom taste «cognition transitive»: poss=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 Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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/pg2435/1/12/