The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 30, sentence 19
But the villagers declared that they could not decide which was the most foolish—the man who allowed himself to be persuaded that he was wearing fine clothes when he was dressed in nothing, or the man who let himself be buried when he was alive and well.
Who acts: villagers, foolish man, man · What happens: declare, not decide, be, allow, persuade, wear · To what, where: foolish man, man, fine clothes, nothing · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (villagers, foolish man, man), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 4 declared | cc |
| 2 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 3 villagers | det |
| 3 | villagers | villager | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 declared | nsubj |
| 4 | declared | declare | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 decide | mark |
| 6 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 decide | nsubj |
| 7 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 9 decide | aux |
| 8 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 9 decide | advmod |
| 9 | decide | decide | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 declared | advcl |
| 10 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 17 man | nsubj |
| 11 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 man | cop |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 man | det |
| 13 | most | most | ADV | Degree=Sup | 14 foolish | advmod |
| 14 | foolish | foolish | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 17 man | amod |
| 15 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 17 man | punct |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 man | det |
| 17 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 decide | ccomp |
| 18 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 19 allowed | nsubj |
| 19 | allowed | allow | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 man | acl:relcl |
| 20 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 19 allowed | obj |
| 21 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 persuaded | mark |
| 22 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 23 persuaded | aux:pass |
| 23 | persuaded | persuade | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 19 allowed | xcomp |
| 24 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 27 wearing | mark |
| 25 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 27 wearing | nsubj |
| 26 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 27 wearing | aux |
| 27 | wearing | wear | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 23 persuaded | advcl |
| 28 | fine | fine | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 clothes | amod |
| 29 | clothes | clothes | NOUN | Number=Ptan | 27 wearing | obj |
| 30 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 33 dressed | advmod |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 dressed | nsubj |
| 32 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 dressed | aux:pass |
| 33 | dressed | dress | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 23 persuaded | advcl |
| 34 | in | in | ADP | _ | 35 nothing | case |
| 35 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 33 dressed | obl |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 man | punct |
| 37 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 39 man | cc |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 man | det |
| 39 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 dressed | obl |
| 40 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 41 let | nsubj |
| 41 | let | let | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 man | acl:relcl |
| 42 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 41 let | obj |
| 43 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 44 buried | aux:pass |
| 44 | buried | bury | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 41 let | xcomp |
| 45 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 48 alive | mark |
| 46 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 alive | nsubj |
| 47 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 48 alive | cop |
| 48 | alive | alive | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 44 buried | advcl |
| 49 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 50 well | cc |
| 50 | well | well | ADV | Degree=Pos | 48 alive | conj |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 declared | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | declare speech: other | past | the villagers | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | not decide | could | villagers = villager | vn correspond-36.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | is a | past | the foolish man | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | allow | past | the foolish man | man | vn allow-64.1-1 «NP V NP S»: agent=Causer himself=Beneficiary clause=Eventuality | ||||
| 5 | persuade not said to happen | to-infinitive · passive | man not said here | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP» | |||||
| 6 | wear | past · progressive | man | fine clothes | vn wipe_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent clothes=Source | ||||
| 7 | dress | past · passive | man | nothing | the man obl | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | |||
| 8 | let | past | the man | man | tree rules | ||||
| 9 | bury | infinitive · passive | man not said here | vn put-9.1-1 «NP V NP» | |||||
| 10 | is | past | man | alive property | tree rules |
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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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/pg3282/30/19/