Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Ib and Little Christina, sentence 12
He was a widower, and earned his living by carrying firewood in his large boat from the forest to the eel-pond and eel-weir, on the estate of Silkborg, and sometimes even to the distant town of Randers.
Who acts: gentleman, widower · What happens: be, earn, carry, live · To what, where: widower, living, firewood, large boat
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Ib and Little Christina. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (gentleman, widower), 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 | 4 widower | nsubj |
| 2 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 widower | cop |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 widower | det |
| 4 | widower | widower | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 earned | punct |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 earned | cc |
| 7 | earned | earn | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 widower | acl:relcl |
| 8 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 9 living | nmod:poss |
| 9 | living | living | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 earned | obj |
| 10 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 11 carrying | mark |
| 11 | carrying | carry | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 7 earned | advcl |
| 12 | firewood | firewood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 carrying | obj |
| 13 | in | in | ADP | _ | 16 boat | case |
| 14 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 boat | nmod:poss |
| 15 | large | large | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 boat | amod |
| 16 | boat | boat | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 carrying | obl |
| 17 | from | from | ADP | _ | 19 forest | case |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 forest | det |
| 19 | forest | forest | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 carrying | obl |
| 20 | to | to | ADP | _ | 24 pond | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 pond | det |
| 22 | eel | eel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 pond | compound |
| 23 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 22 eel | punct |
| 24 | pond | pond | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 forest | nmod |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 weir | cc |
| 26 | eel | eel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 weir | compound |
| 27 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 26 eel | punct |
| 28 | weir | weir | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 pond | conj |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 estate | punct |
| 30 | on | on | ADP | _ | 32 estate | case |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 estate | det |
| 32 | estate | estate | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 pond | conj |
| 33 | of | of | ADP | _ | 34 Silkborg | case |
| 34 | Silkborg | Silkborg | PROPN | Number=Sing | 32 estate | nmod |
| 35 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 town | punct |
| 36 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 42 town | cc |
| 37 | sometimes | sometimes | ADV | PronType=Ind | 42 town | advmod |
| 38 | even | even | ADV | _ | 42 town | advmod |
| 39 | to | to | ADP | _ | 42 town | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 town | det |
| 41 | distant | distant | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 town | amod |
| 42 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 widower | conj |
| 43 | of | of | ADP | _ | 44 Randers | case |
| 44 | Randers | Randers | PROPN | Number=Sing | 42 town | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 widower | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | gentleman | a widower and the distant town | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | earn | past | a widower and the distant town not said here | gentleman's living | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent living=Theme | ||||
| 3 | carry | gerund | a widower and the distant town not said here | firewood | gentleman's large boat | from the forest to the eel pond and eel weir and the estate of Silkborg | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent firewood=Theme from forest=Initial_Location | ||
| 4 | live | gentleman | nom living «cognition 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/pg27200/51/12/