Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, The Last Dream of the Old Oak, sentence 59
Already had his topmost branches pierced the clouds, which floated beneath them like troops of birds of passage, or large white swans; every leaf seemed gifted with sight, as if it possessed eyes to see.
Who acts: Already, topmost branches, clouds, sight · What happens: have, pierce, float, gift, possess, see · To what, where: topmost branches, clouds, leaf, eyes
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, The Last Dream of the Old Oak. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Already, topmost branches, clouds, sight), 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 | Already | Already | PROPN | Number=Sing | 2 had | nsubj |
| 2 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 5 branches | nmod:poss |
| 4 | topmost | topmost | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 branches | amod |
| 5 | branches | branch | NOUN | Number=Plur | 2 had | obj |
| 6 | pierced | pierce | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 5 branches | acl |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 clouds | det |
| 8 | clouds | cloud | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 pierced | obj |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 floated | punct |
| 10 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 11 floated | nsubj |
| 11 | floated | float | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 clouds | acl:relcl |
| 12 | beneath | beneath | ADP | _ | 13 them | case |
| 13 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 11 floated | obl |
| 14 | like | like | ADP | _ | 15 troops | case |
| 15 | troops | troops | NOUN | Number=Ptan | 11 floated | obl |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 birds | case |
| 17 | birds | bird | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 troops | nmod |
| 18 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 passage | case |
| 19 | passage | passage | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 birds | nmod |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 swans | punct |
| 21 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 24 swans | cc |
| 22 | large | large | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 24 swans | amod |
| 23 | white | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 24 swans | amod |
| 24 | swans | swan | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 passage | conj |
| 25 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 29 gifted | punct |
| 26 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 27 leaf | det |
| 27 | leaf | leaf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 gifted | nsubj:pass |
| 28 | seemed | seem | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 gifted | aux:pass |
| 29 | gifted | gift | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 2 had | parataxis |
| 30 | with | with | ADP | _ | 31 sight | case |
| 31 | sight | sight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 gifted | obl |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 possessed | punct |
| 33 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 36 possessed | mark |
| 34 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 36 possessed | mark |
| 35 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 possessed | nsubj |
| 36 | possessed | possess | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 gifted | conj |
| 37 | eyes | eye | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 possessed | obj |
| 38 | to | to | PART | _ | 39 see | mark |
| 39 | see | see | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 possessed | advcl |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 had | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | have | past | Already | Already's topmost branches | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent branch=Patient | ||||
| 2 | pierce | participle | Already's topmost branches not said here | the clouds | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cloud=Patient | ||||
| 3 | float | past | the clouds | beneath clouds = cloud; like troops of birds of passage or large white swans | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme beneath they=Trajectory | ||||
| 4 | gift | past · passive | every leaf | with sight | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: subject=Theme | ||||
| 5 | possess a condition, not said to happen | past | sight | eyes | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot eye=Theme | ||||
| 6 | see | to-infinitive | sight not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
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/pg27200/69/59/