Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Beauty of Form and Beauty of Mind, sentence 16
Several of the guests could scarcely forbear laughing, and the sculptor would have had some difficulty in keeping his countenance, but the smile on his lips faded away; for he caught sight of a pair of dark-blue eyes close by the side of the inquisitive lady.
Who acts: Several guests, sculptor, difficulty, smile · What happens: forbear, laugh, have, keep, fade away, catch · To what, where: difficulty, countenance, sight, pair
This is a sentence of «Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen» by H. C. Andersen, Beauty of Form and Beauty of Mind. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Several guests, sculptor, difficulty, smile), 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 | Several | several | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 guests | amod |
| 2 | of | of | ADP | _ | 4 guests | case |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 guests | det |
| 4 | guests | guest | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 forbear | nsubj |
| 5 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 7 forbear | aux |
| 6 | scarcely | scarcely | ADV | _ | 7 forbear | advmod |
| 7 | forbear | forbear | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 8 | laughing | laugh | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 7 forbear | xcomp |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 had | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 15 had | cc |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 sculptor | det |
| 12 | sculptor | sculptor | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 had | nsubj |
| 13 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 15 had | aux |
| 14 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 15 had | aux |
| 15 | had | have | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 7 forbear | parataxis |
| 16 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 17 difficulty | det |
| 17 | difficulty | difficulty | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 had | obj |
| 18 | in | in | SCONJ | _ | 19 keeping | mark |
| 19 | keeping | keep | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 17 difficulty | acl |
| 20 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 21 countenance | nmod:poss |
| 21 | countenance | countenance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 keeping | obj |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 faded | punct |
| 23 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 29 faded | cc |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 smile | det |
| 25 | smile | smile | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 faded | nsubj |
| 26 | on | on | ADP | _ | 28 lips | case |
| 27 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 28 lips | nmod:poss |
| 28 | lips | lip | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 smile | nmod |
| 29 | faded | fade | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 forbear | parataxis |
| 30 | away | away | ADV | _ | 29 faded | advmod |
| 31 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 34 caught | punct |
| 32 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 34 caught | mark |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 caught | nsubj |
| 34 | caught | catch | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 forbear | parataxis |
| 35 | sight | sight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 caught | obj |
| 36 | of | of | ADP | _ | 38 pair | case |
| 37 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 38 pair | det |
| 38 | pair | pair | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 sight | nmod |
| 39 | of | of | ADP | _ | 43 eyes | case |
| 40 | dark | dark | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 blue | amod |
| 41 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 40 dark | punct |
| 42 | blue | blue | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 eyes | amod |
| 43 | eyes | eye | NOUN | Number=Plur | 38 pair | nmod |
| 44 | close | close | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 eyes | amod |
| 45 | by | by | ADP | _ | 47 side | case |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 side | det |
| 47 | side | side | NOUN | Number=Sing | 44 close | obl |
| 48 | of | of | ADP | _ | 51 lady | case |
| 49 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 51 lady | det |
| 50 | inquisitive | inquisitive | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 51 lady | amod |
| 51 | lady | lady | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 side | nmod |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 forbear | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | forbear | could | the Several guests | scarcely property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | laugh | gerund | the Several guests not said here | vn nonverbal_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | have | would · perfect | the sculptor | some difficulty | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent difficulty=Patient | ||||
| 4 | keep | gerund | some difficulty not said here | sculptor's countenance | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent countenance=Theme | ||||
| 5 | fade away | past | the smile on sculptor's lips | away property | vn other_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | ||||
| 6 | catch | past | sculptor | sight of a pair of blue eyes | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sight=Theme | ||||
| 7 | sight | a pair of blue eyes | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient |
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/pg27200/7/16/