The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 55
He was not even allowed to speak in his own defence, but on the very steps of the gallows he sent a message to the king and begged, as a last favour, that he might play a tune on his zither.
Who acts: king · What happens: not allow, speak, send, beg, play, defend · To what, where: king, own defence, message, tune, zither, gallows · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king), 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 | 5 allowed | nsubj:pass |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 allowed | aux:pass |
| 3 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 5 allowed | advmod |
| 4 | even | even | ADV | _ | 5 allowed | advmod |
| 5 | allowed | allow | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | PART | _ | 7 speak | mark |
| 7 | speak | speak | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 5 allowed | xcomp |
| 8 | in | in | ADP | _ | 11 defence | case |
| 9 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 11 defence | nmod:poss |
| 10 | own | own | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 defence | amod |
| 11 | defence | defence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 speak | obl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 22 sent | punct |
| 13 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 22 sent | cc |
| 14 | on | on | ADP | _ | 17 steps | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 steps | det |
| 16 | very | very | ADV | _ | 17 steps | advmod |
| 17 | steps | step | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 sent | obl |
| 18 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 gallows | case |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 gallows | det |
| 20 | gallows | gallows | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 steps | nmod |
| 21 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 sent | nsubj |
| 22 | sent | send | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 allowed | parataxis |
| 23 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 24 message | det |
| 24 | message | message | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 sent | obj |
| 25 | to | to | ADP | _ | 27 king | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 king | det |
| 27 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 sent | obl |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 29 begged | cc |
| 29 | begged | beg | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 sent | conj |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 favour | punct |
| 31 | as | as | ADP | _ | 34 favour | case |
| 32 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 34 favour | det |
| 33 | last | last | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 34 favour | amod |
| 34 | favour | favour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 begged | obl |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 play | punct |
| 36 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 39 play | mark |
| 37 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 play | nsubj |
| 38 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 39 play | aux |
| 39 | play | play | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 29 begged | conj |
| 40 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 41 tune | det |
| 41 | tune | tune | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 play | obj |
| 42 | on | on | ADP | _ | 44 zither | case |
| 43 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 zither | nmod:poss |
| 44 | zither | zither | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 play | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 allowed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not allow | past · passive | king | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: subject=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | speak speech: other not said to happen | to-infinitive | king not said here | king's own defence | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | send | past | king | a message | the king | on the steps of the gallows | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent message=Theme to king=Destination | ||
| 4 | beg speech: request | past | king not said here | as a last favour | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | play | might | king | a tune | king's zither | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tune=Theme | |||
| 6 | defend | king | nom defence «process transitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 7 | step | the gallows | nom step «act transitive»: of=patient |
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/pg2435/14/55/