Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Twenty-fourth Evening, sentence 19
It was a superstition, but a superstition of such a class, that he who knows the story and has seen this picture, need have only two words placed under the picture to make him understand it; and these two words are: "A mother."
Who acts: fortune, house, two words · What happens: be, know, see, need, have, place · To what, where: superstition, story, picture, two words, house, fortune
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Twenty-fourth Evening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fortune, house, two words), 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 superstition | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 superstition | cop |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 superstition | det |
| 4 | superstition | superstition | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 superstition | punct |
| 6 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 8 superstition | cc |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 superstition | det |
| 8 | superstition | superstition | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 superstition | appos |
| 9 | of | of | ADP | _ | 12 class | case |
| 10 | such | such | DET | PronType=Ind | 12 class | det:predet |
| 11 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 12 class | det |
| 12 | class | class | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 superstition | nmod |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 knows | punct |
| 14 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 17 knows | mark |
| 15 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 knows | nsubj |
| 16 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 17 knows | nsubj |
| 17 | knows | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 superstition | parataxis |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 story | det |
| 19 | story | story | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 knows | obj |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 seen | cc |
| 21 | has | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 22 seen | aux |
| 22 | seen | see | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 17 knows | conj |
| 23 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 24 picture | det |
| 24 | picture | picture | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 seen | obj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 need | punct |
| 26 | need | need | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 17 knows | parataxis |
| 27 | have | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 26 need | ccomp |
| 28 | only | only | ADV | _ | 30 words | advmod |
| 29 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 30 words | nummod |
| 30 | words | word | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 have | obj |
| 31 | placed | place | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 30 words | acl |
| 32 | under | under | ADP | _ | 34 picture | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 picture | det |
| 34 | picture | picture | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 placed | obl |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 36 make | mark |
| 36 | make | make | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 placed | advcl |
| 37 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 make | obj |
| 38 | understand | understand | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 make | xcomp |
| 39 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 understand | obj |
| 40 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 49 mother | punct |
| 41 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 49 mother | cc |
| 42 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 44 words | det |
| 43 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 44 words | nummod |
| 44 | words | word | NOUN | Number=Plur | 49 mother | nsubj |
| 45 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 49 mother | cop |
| 46 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 49 mother | punct |
| 47 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 49 mother | punct |
| 48 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 49 mother | det |
| 49 | mother | mother | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 superstition | appos |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 49 mother | punct |
| 51 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 49 mother | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | fortune | a superstition | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | know | present | house | the story | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus | ||||
| 3 | see | present · perfect | house not said here | this picture | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer picture=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | need | present | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | ||||||
| 5 | have | present | two words | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Patient | |||||
| 6 | place | participle | two words not said here | the picture | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent under picture=Destination | ||||
| 7 | make | to-infinitive | house | tree rules | |||||
| 8 | understand | infinitive | house not said here | fortune | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus | ||||
| 9 | is a in a quote | present | this two words | a mother | 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: «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 27200 (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/pg27200/115/19/