Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Elf of the Rose, sentence 8
What we call the veins on a leaf, he took for roads; ay, and very long roads they were for him; for before he had half finished his task, the sun went down: he had commenced his work too late.
Who acts: we, prettiest, roads, sun · What happens: call, take, be, finish, go down, commence · To what, where: veins, leaf, ay, long roads, task, work · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Elf of the Rose. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, prettiest, roads, sun), 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 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 3 call | obj |
| 2 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 3 call | nsubj |
| 3 | call | call | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 veins | det |
| 5 | veins | vein | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 call | obj |
| 6 | on | on | ADP | _ | 8 leaf | case |
| 7 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 leaf | det |
| 8 | leaf | leaf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 call | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 took | punct |
| 10 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 took | nsubj |
| 11 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 call | parataxis |
| 12 | for | for | ADP | _ | 13 roads | case |
| 13 | roads | road | NOUN | Number=Plur | 11 took | obl |
| 14 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 15 ay | punct |
| 15 | ay | ay | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 took | obj |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 roads | punct |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 roads | cc |
| 18 | very | very | ADV | _ | 19 long | advmod |
| 19 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 roads | amod |
| 20 | roads | road | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 ay | appos |
| 21 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 him | nsubj |
| 22 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 24 him | cop |
| 23 | for | for | ADP | _ | 24 him | case |
| 24 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 20 roads | acl:relcl |
| 25 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 31 finished | punct |
| 26 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 31 finished | mark |
| 27 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 31 finished | mark |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 finished | nsubj |
| 29 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 finished | aux |
| 30 | half | half | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Frac | 31 finished | advmod |
| 31 | finished | finish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 11 took | advcl |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 task | nmod:poss |
| 33 | task | task | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 finished | obj |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 37 went | punct |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 sun | det |
| 36 | sun | sun | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 went | nsubj |
| 37 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 took | conj |
| 38 | down | down | ADV | _ | 37 went | advmod |
| 39 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 42 commenced | punct |
| 40 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 commenced | nsubj |
| 41 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 commenced | aux |
| 42 | commenced | commence | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 37 went | conj |
| 43 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 work | nmod:poss |
| 44 | work | work | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 commenced | obj |
| 45 | too | too | ADV | _ | 46 late | advmod |
| 46 | late | late | ADV | Degree=Pos | 42 commenced | advmod |
| 47 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 call | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | call speech: assert | present | we | the veins | a leaf | vn dub-29.3.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent what=Theme vein=Result | |||
| 2 | take | past | prettiest = pretty | ay | for roads | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent ay=Theme for road=Beneficiary | |||
| 3 | is | past | roads = road | long roads not said here | for fragrance | tree rules | |||
| 4 | finish | past · perfect | prettiest = pretty | prettiest's task | half property | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector task=Eventuality | |||
| 5 | go down | past | the sun | down property | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | ||||
| 6 | commence | past · perfect | prettiest = pretty | prettiest's work | late property | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality | |||
| 7 | task | prettiest = pretty | nom task «act transitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 8 | work | prettiest = pretty | nom work «act intransitive»: 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: «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/pg27200/30/8/