The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 19, sentence 41
He and his wife were always looking out for something to do, and never spent a penny that they could help, but luck was against them, and at the time of his father’s death they had hardly bread to eat or clothes to cover them.
Who acts: son, eyes, luck, father · What happens: look out, do, not spend, help, be, have · To what, where: penny, bread, clothes
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (son, eyes, luck, father), 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 | He | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 7 looking | nsubj |
| 2 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 4 wife | cc |
| 3 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 4 wife | nmod:poss |
| 4 | wife | wife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 He | conj |
| 5 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 looking | aux |
| 6 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 7 looking | advmod |
| 7 | looking | look | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 8 | out | out | ADP | _ | 7 looking | compound:prt |
| 9 | for | for | ADP | _ | 10 something | case |
| 10 | something | something | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Ind | 7 looking | obl |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 do | mark |
| 12 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 something | acl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 16 spent | punct |
| 14 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 16 spent | cc |
| 15 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 16 spent | advmod |
| 16 | spent | spend | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 looking | conj |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 18 penny | det |
| 18 | penny | penny | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 spent | obj |
| 19 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 22 help | mark |
| 20 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 22 help | nsubj |
| 21 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 22 help | aux |
| 22 | help | help | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 16 spent | advcl |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 them | punct |
| 24 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 28 them | cc |
| 25 | luck | luck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 them | nsubj |
| 26 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 them | cop |
| 27 | against | against | ADP | _ | 28 them | case |
| 28 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 spent | obl |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 had | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 had | cc |
| 31 | at | at | ADP | _ | 33 time | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 time | det |
| 33 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 had | obl |
| 34 | of | of | ADP | _ | 38 death | case |
| 35 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 father | nmod:poss |
| 36 | father | father | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 death | nmod:poss |
| 37 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 36 father | case |
| 38 | death | death | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 time | nmod |
| 39 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 had | nsubj |
| 40 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 looking | conj |
| 41 | hardly | hardly | ADV | _ | 42 bread | advmod |
| 42 | bread | bread | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 had | obj |
| 43 | to | to | PART | _ | 44 eat | mark |
| 44 | eat | eat | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 42 bread | acl |
| 45 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 46 clothes | cc |
| 46 | clothes | clothes | NOUN | Number=Ptan | 44 eat | obj |
| 47 | to | to | PART | _ | 48 cover | mark |
| 48 | cover | cover | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 44 eat | advcl |
| 49 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 cover | obj |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 looking | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | look out | past · progressive | son | for something; always property | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent for something=Theme | ||||
| 2 | do | to-infinitive | son not said here | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | not spend | past | son not said here | a penny | vn consume-66-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent penny=Asset | ||||
| 4 | help | could | eyes = eye | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 5 | is | past | luck | against eyes = eye | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | have | past | eyes = eye | bread | time | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bread=Patient | |||
| 7 | eat | to-infinitive | eyes = eye not said here | clothes | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clothes=Patient | ||||
| 8 | cover | to-infinitive | eyes = eye not said here | clothes | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Destination | ||||
| 9 | die | son's father | nom death «event intransitive»: 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: «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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/pg3454/19/41/