Irish Fairy Tales, Chapter IX, sentence 5
We get wise by asking questions, and even if these are not answered we get wise, for a well-packed question carries its answer on its back as a snail carries its shell.
Who acts: We, snail, journey · What happens: get, ask, not answer, pack, carry, answer · To what, where: questions, these, answer, back, shell
This is a sentence of «Irish Fairy Tales» by James Stephens, Chapter IX. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (We, snail, journey), 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 | We | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 2 get | nsubj |
| 2 | get | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | wise | wise | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 2 get | xcomp |
| 4 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 5 asking | mark |
| 5 | asking | ask | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 2 get | advcl |
| 6 | questions | question | NOUN | Number=Plur | 5 asking | obj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 get | punct |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 get | cc |
| 9 | even | even | ADV | _ | 14 answered | advmod |
| 10 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 14 answered | mark |
| 11 | these | this | PRON | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 14 answered | nsubj:pass |
| 12 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 14 answered | aux:pass |
| 13 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 14 answered | advmod |
| 14 | answered | answer | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 16 get | advcl |
| 15 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 16 get | nsubj |
| 16 | get | get | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 get | conj |
| 17 | wise | wise | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 get | xcomp |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 carries | punct |
| 19 | for | for | ADP | _ | 24 question | case |
| 20 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 24 question | det |
| 21 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 23 packed | advmod |
| 22 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 21 well | punct |
| 23 | packed | pack | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 24 question | amod |
| 24 | question | question | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 carries | obl |
| 25 | carries | carry | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 2 get | parataxis |
| 26 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 answer | nmod:poss |
| 27 | answer | answer | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 carries | obj |
| 28 | on | on | ADP | _ | 30 back | case |
| 29 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 30 back | nmod:poss |
| 30 | back | back | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 carries | obl |
| 31 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 34 carries | mark |
| 32 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 33 snail | det |
| 33 | snail | snail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 carries | nsubj |
| 34 | carries | carry | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 25 carries | advcl |
| 35 | its | its | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 shell | nmod:poss |
| 36 | shell | shell | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 carries | obj |
| 37 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 get | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | get | present | We | wise property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 2 | ask speech: ask | gerund | We not said here | questions | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent question=Recipient | ||||
| 3 | not answer speech: assert a condition, not said to happen | present · passive | these | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: subject=Eventuality | |||||
| 4 | get | present | we | wise property | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 5 | pack | participle | well property | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 6 | carry | present | journey's answer | journey's back | for a packed question | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent answer=Theme | |||
| 7 | carry | present | a snail | journey's shell | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shell=Theme | ||||
| 8 | answer | journey | nom answer «communication transitive»: 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: «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/pg2892/22/5/