The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 29, sentence 18
Then the king swore a solemn oath that he would never leave the spot without taking them if it should cost him his life; and he meant it, though at the moment he did not know what he was undertaking.
Who acts: king, spot · What happens: swear, not leave, take, cost, mean, not know · To what, where: solemn oath, spot, hands, life, king · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, spot), 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 | Then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 4 swore | advmod |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 king | det |
| 3 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 swore | nsubj |
| 4 | swore | swear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 oath | det |
| 6 | solemn | solemn | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 oath | amod |
| 7 | oath | oath | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 swore | obj |
| 8 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 12 leave | mark |
| 9 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 leave | nsubj |
| 10 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 12 leave | aux |
| 11 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 12 leave | advmod |
| 12 | leave | leave | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 swore | advcl |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 spot | det |
| 14 | spot | spot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 leave | obj |
| 15 | without | without | SCONJ | _ | 16 taking | mark |
| 16 | taking | take | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 12 leave | advcl |
| 17 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 taking | obj |
| 18 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 21 cost | mark |
| 19 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 cost | nsubj |
| 20 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 21 cost | aux |
| 21 | cost | cost | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 taking | advcl |
| 22 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 21 cost | iobj |
| 23 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 24 life | nmod:poss |
| 24 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 cost | obj |
| 25 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 28 meant | punct |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 meant | cc |
| 27 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 meant | nsubj |
| 28 | meant | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 swore | parataxis |
| 29 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 meant | obj |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 38 know | punct |
| 31 | though | though | SCONJ | _ | 38 know | mark |
| 32 | at | at | ADP | _ | 34 moment | case |
| 33 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 34 moment | det |
| 34 | moment | moment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 know | obl |
| 35 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 know | nsubj |
| 36 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 38 know | aux |
| 37 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 38 know | advmod |
| 38 | know | know | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 meant | conj |
| 39 | what | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 42 undertaking | obj |
| 40 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 undertaking | nsubj |
| 41 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 undertaking | aux |
| 42 | undertaking | undertake | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 38 know | ccomp |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 swore | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | swear | past | the king | a solemn oath | then | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent oath=Eventuality | |||
| 2 | not leave | would | king | the spot | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spot=Theme | ||||
| 3 | take | gerund | king not said here | hands = hand | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | ||||
| 4 | cost a condition, not said to happen | should | spot | king's life | king | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Theme he=Beneficiary life=Value | |||
| 5 | mean | past | king | life | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Topic | ||||
| 6 | not know | past · do-support | king | moment | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | ||||
| 7 | undertake | past · progressive | king | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |
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: «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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/pg3027/29/18/