The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 28, sentence 33
Both struck hard, but in the end the snake proved the stronger, and would have twisted himself round the neck of the raven till he died had not the king’s son drawn his sword, and cut off the head of the snake at a single blow.
Who acts: Both, snake, news, son · What happens: strike, prove, twist, die, have, draw · To what, where: end, news, neck, son, sword, head
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Both, snake, news, son), 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 | Both | both | DET | PronType=Tot | 2 struck | nsubj |
| 2 | struck | strike | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 3 | hard | hard | ADV | Degree=Pos | 2 struck | advmod |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 11 proved | punct |
| 5 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 11 proved | cc |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 end | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 end | det |
| 8 | end | end | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 proved | obl |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 snake | det |
| 10 | snake | snake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 proved | nsubj |
| 11 | proved | prove | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 struck | conj |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 stronger | det |
| 13 | stronger | strong | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 11 proved | ccomp |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 twisted | punct |
| 15 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 twisted | cc |
| 16 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 18 twisted | aux |
| 17 | have | have | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 18 twisted | aux |
| 18 | twisted | twist | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 11 proved | conj |
| 19 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 18 twisted | obj |
| 20 | round | round | ADP | _ | 22 neck | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 neck | det |
| 22 | neck | neck | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 twisted | obl |
| 23 | of | of | ADP | _ | 25 raven | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 raven | det |
| 25 | raven | raven | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 neck | nmod |
| 26 | till | till | SCONJ | _ | 28 died | mark |
| 27 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 died | nsubj |
| 28 | died | die | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 twisted | advcl |
| 29 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 28 died | conj |
| 30 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 34 son | advmod |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 king | det |
| 32 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 son | nmod:poss |
| 33 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 32 king | case |
| 34 | son | son | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 had | obj |
| 35 | drawn | draw | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 34 son | acl |
| 36 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 37 sword | nmod:poss |
| 37 | sword | sword | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 drawn | obj |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 cut | punct |
| 39 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 40 cut | cc |
| 40 | cut | cut | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 11 proved | parataxis |
| 41 | off | off | ADP | _ | 43 head | case |
| 42 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 43 head | det |
| 43 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 cut | obl |
| 44 | of | of | ADP | _ | 46 snake | case |
| 45 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 snake | det |
| 46 | snake | snake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 head | nmod |
| 47 | at | at | ADP | _ | 50 blow | case |
| 48 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 50 blow | det |
| 49 | single | single | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 50 blow | amod |
| 50 | blow | blow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 cut | obl |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 struck | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | strike | participle | Both | hard property | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | prove | past | the snake | in the end | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S_INF»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | twist | would · perfect | the snake not said here | news | the neck of the raven | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent himself=Theme round neck=Trajectory | |||
| 4 | die | past | news | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | |||||
| 5 | have | past | news not said here | the king's son | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient | ||||
| 6 | draw | participle | the king's son not said here | news's sword | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme | ||||
| 7 | cut off | participle | the head of the snake | a single blow | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=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 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/pg3454/28/33/