The Blue Fairy Book, The Story of Pretty Goldilocks, sentence 60
“What a pity it is that men do nothing but torment and persecute poor creatures which never do them any harm!” said he, and he took out his knife and cut the cords of the net, and the owl flitted away into the darkness, but then turning, with one flicker of her wings, she came back to Charming and said:
Who acts: owl, creature, Charming, wings · What happens: be, persecute, not do, say, take out, cut · To what, where: poor creatures, knife, cords, darkness, Charming · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Pretty Goldilocks. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (owl, creature, Charming, wings), 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 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 pity | punct |
| 2 | What | what | PRON | PronType=Int | 4 pity | nsubj |
| 3 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 pity | det |
| 4 | pity | pity | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 5 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 do | nsubj |
| 6 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 9 do | cop |
| 7 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 9 do | mark |
| 8 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 do | nsubj |
| 9 | do | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 pity | parataxis |
| 10 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 9 do | obj |
| 11 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 12 torment | cc |
| 12 | torment | torment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 nothing | conj |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 persecute | cc |
| 14 | persecute | persecute | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres Typo=Yes VerbForm=Fin | 9 do | conj |
| 15 | poor | poor | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 16 creatures | amod |
| 16 | creatures | creature | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 said | nsubj |
| 17 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 19 do | obj |
| 18 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 19 do | advmod |
| 19 | do | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 creatures | acl:relcl |
| 20 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 do | obj |
| 21 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 22 harm | det |
| 22 | harm | harm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 do | obj |
| 23 | ! | ! | PUNCT | _ | 19 do | punct |
| 24 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 19 do | punct |
| 25 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 persecute | parataxis |
| 26 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 took | nsubj |
| 27 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 took | punct |
| 28 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 took | cc |
| 29 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 took | nsubj |
| 30 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 said | ccomp |
| 31 | out | out | ADP | _ | 30 took | compound:prt |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 knife | nmod:poss |
| 33 | knife | knife | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 took | obj |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 cut | cc |
| 35 | cut | cut | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 took | conj |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 cords | det |
| 37 | cords | cord | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 cut | obj |
| 38 | of | of | ADP | _ | 40 net | case |
| 39 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 net | det |
| 40 | net | net | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 cords | nmod |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 flitted | punct |
| 42 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 45 flitted | cc |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 owl | det |
| 44 | owl | owl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 flitted | nsubj |
| 45 | flitted | flit | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 said | conj |
| 46 | away | away | ADV | _ | 45 flitted | advmod |
| 47 | into | into | ADP | _ | 49 darkness | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 darkness | det |
| 49 | darkness | darkness | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 flitted | obl |
| 50 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 53 turning | punct |
| 51 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 53 turning | cc |
| 52 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 53 turning | advmod |
| 53 | turning | turn | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 45 flitted | advcl |
| 54 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 57 flicker | punct |
| 55 | with | with | ADP | _ | 57 flicker | case |
| 56 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 57 flicker | nummod |
| 57 | flicker | flicker | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 turning | conj |
| 58 | of | of | ADP | _ | 60 wings | case |
| 59 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 60 wings | nmod:poss |
| 60 | wings | wing | NOUN | Number=Plur | 57 flicker | nmod |
| 61 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 63 came | punct |
| 62 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 63 came | nsubj |
| 63 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 said | parataxis |
| 64 | back | back | ADV | _ | 63 came | advmod |
| 65 | to | to | ADP | _ | 66 Charming | case |
| 66 | Charming | Charming | PROPN | Number=Sing | 63 came | obl |
| 67 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 68 said | cc |
| 68 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 63 came | conj |
| 69 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 4 pity | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is in a quote | present | owl | do property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | persecute in a quote | present | owl not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | not do in a quote | present | poor creatures | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | say speech: express | past | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | ||||||
| 5 | take out | past | creature | creature's knife | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knife=Theme | ||||
| 6 | cut | past | creature not said here | the cords of the net | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset cord=Product | ||||
| 7 | flit away | past | the owl | the darkness | away property | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into darkness=Destination | |||
| 8 | turn | gerund | the owl not said here | then | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 9 | come back | past | Charming | Charming | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to charming=Initial_Location | ||||
| 10 | say speech: assert | past | Charming not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 11 | flicker | Charming's wings | nom flicker «event intransitive»: of=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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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/pg503/28/60/