Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Flax, sentence 81
They were even lighter and more delicate than the flowers from which they were born; and as the flames were extinguished, and nothing remained of the paper but black ashes, these little beings danced upon it; and whenever they touched it, bright red sparks appeared.
Who acts: flowers, flames, bright red sparks · What happens: be, bear, remain, dance, touch, appear · To what, where: flowers, little beings, flame
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Flax. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (flowers, flames, bright red sparks), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 lighter | nsubj |
| 2 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 lighter | cop |
| 3 | even | even | ADV | _ | 4 lighter | advmod |
| 4 | lighter | light | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | root | root |
| 5 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 delicate | cc |
| 6 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 7 delicate | advmod |
| 7 | delicate | delicate | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 lighter | conj |
| 8 | than | than | ADP | _ | 10 flowers | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 flowers | det |
| 10 | flowers | flower | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 delicate | obl |
| 11 | from | from | ADP | _ | 12 which | case |
| 12 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 15 born | obl |
| 13 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 born | nsubj:pass |
| 14 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 born | aux:pass |
| 15 | born | bear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 10 flowers | acl:relcl |
| 16 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 22 extinguished | punct |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 extinguished | cc |
| 18 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 22 extinguished | mark |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 flames | det |
| 20 | flames | flame | NOUN | Number=Plur | 22 extinguished | nsubj |
| 21 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 extinguished | cop |
| 22 | extinguished | extinguished | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 lighter | conj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 nothing | punct |
| 24 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 nothing | cc |
| 25 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 22 extinguished | parataxis |
| 26 | remained | remain | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 25 nothing | acl |
| 27 | of | of | ADP | _ | 29 paper | case |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 paper | det |
| 29 | paper | paper | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 remained | obl |
| 30 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 32 ashes | cc |
| 31 | black | black | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 ashes | amod |
| 32 | ashes | ash | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 paper | conj |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 beings | punct |
| 34 | these | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 36 beings | det |
| 35 | little | little | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 beings | amod |
| 36 | beings | being | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 nothing | conj |
| 37 | danced | dance | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 36 beings | acl |
| 38 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 39 it | case |
| 39 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 danced | obl |
| 40 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 4 lighter | punct |
| 41 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 50 appeared | cc |
| 42 | whenever | whenever | ADV | PronType=Rel | 44 touched | advmod |
| 43 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 touched | nsubj |
| 44 | touched | touch | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 50 appeared | advcl |
| 45 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 touched | obj |
| 46 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 touched | punct |
| 47 | bright | bright | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 49 sparks | amod |
| 48 | red | red | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 49 sparks | amod |
| 49 | sparks | spark | NOUN | Number=Plur | 50 appeared | nsubj |
| 50 | appeared | appear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 lighter | conj |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 lighter | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | flowers = flower | light property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | be | flowers = flower not said here | than the flowers | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | bear | past · passive | flowers = flower | the flowers | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | ||||
| 4 | is | past | the flames | extinguished property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | remain | participle | of the paper but black ashes | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 6 | dance | participle | this little beings not said here | flame | vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon it=Location | ||||
| 7 | touch | past | flowers = flower | flame | whenever property | vn contiguous_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Co-Theme | |||
| 8 | appear | past | bright red sparks | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
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/pg27200/34/81/