Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter VII, sentence 34
An arrow buzzing by one’s ear would slide into the ground and quiver there silently, menacingly, hinting of the brothers it had left in the quiver behind; to the right? to the left? how many brothers? in how many quivers...?
Who acts: arrow, brothers · What happens: buzz, slide, hint, leave · To what, where: many brothers, ground, arrow, quiver
This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter VII. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (arrow, brothers), 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 | An | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 arrow | det |
| 2 | arrow | arrow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 slide | nsubj |
| 3 | buzzing | buzz | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 2 arrow | acl |
| 4 | by | by | ADP | _ | 7 ear | case |
| 5 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 7 ear | nummod |
| 6 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 5 one | case |
| 7 | ear | ear | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 buzzing | obl |
| 8 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 9 slide | aux |
| 9 | slide | slide | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 10 | into | into | ADP | _ | 12 ground | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 ground | det |
| 12 | ground | ground | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 slide | obl |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 quiver | cc |
| 14 | quiver | quiver | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 ground | conj |
| 15 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 9 slide | advmod |
| 16 | silently | silently | ADV | _ | 9 slide | advmod |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 hinting | punct |
| 18 | menacingly | menacingly | ADV | _ | 20 hinting | advmod |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 hinting | punct |
| 20 | hinting | hint | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 9 slide | advcl |
| 21 | of | of | ADP | _ | 23 brothers | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 brothers | det |
| 23 | brothers | brother | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 hinting | obl |
| 24 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 left | nsubj:pass |
| 25 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 left | aux |
| 26 | left | leave | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 23 brothers | acl:relcl |
| 27 | in | in | ADP | _ | 29 quiver | case |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 quiver | det |
| 29 | quiver | quiver | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 left | obl |
| 30 | behind | behind | ADV | _ | 29 quiver | advmod |
| 31 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 34 right | punct |
| 32 | to | to | ADP | _ | 34 right | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 right | det |
| 34 | right | right | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 slide | obl |
| 35 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 34 right | punct |
| 36 | to | to | ADP | _ | 38 left | case |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 left | det |
| 38 | left | left | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 right | nmod |
| 39 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 9 slide | punct |
| 40 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 41 many | advmod |
| 41 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 brothers | amod |
| 42 | brothers | brother | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 slide | obl |
| 43 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 9 slide | punct |
| 44 | in | in | ADP | _ | 47 quivers | case |
| 45 | how | how | ADV | PronType=Int | 46 many | advmod |
| 46 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 47 quivers | amod |
| 47 | quivers | quiver | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 slide | obl |
| 48 | ... | ... | PUNCT | _ | 9 slide | punct |
| 49 | ? | ? | PUNCT | _ | 9 slide | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | buzz | gerund | a arrow not said here | by one ear | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by ear=Location | ||||
| 2 | slide | would | a arrow | many brothers | the ground and quiver; there | to the right to the left; in many quivers; silently property | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: agent=Theme into ground=Source to right=Trajectory in quiver=Destination | ||
| 3 | hint speech: other | gerund | a arrow not said here | of the brothers; menacingly property | vn say-37.7-1-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 4 | leave | past · perfect · passive | the brothers not said here | arrow | the quiver | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in quiver=Location |
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: «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Project Gutenberg book 2892 (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/pg2892/20/34/