The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter III, sentence 30
If an express requires extraordinary speed the Man-Mountain shall be obliged to carry in his pocket the messenger and horse a six days’ journey, and return the said messenger (if so required) safe to our imperial presence.
Who acts: express, six days · What happens: require, oblige, carry, return, say, journey · To what, where: extraordinary speed, Man Mountain, messenger, pocket, said messenger · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter III. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (express, six days), 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 | If | if | SCONJ | _ | 4 requires | mark |
| 2 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 3 express | det |
| 3 | express | express | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 requires | nsubj |
| 4 | requires | require | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 13 obliged | advcl |
| 5 | extraordinary | extraordinary | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 speed | amod |
| 6 | speed | speed | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 requires | obj |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 Mountain | det |
| 8 | Man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 Mountain | compound |
| 9 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 8 Man | punct |
| 10 | Mountain | mountain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 obliged | nsubj:pass |
| 11 | shall | shall | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 13 obliged | aux |
| 12 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 13 obliged | aux:pass |
| 13 | obliged | oblige | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 15 carry | mark |
| 15 | carry | carry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 obliged | xcomp |
| 16 | in | in | ADP | _ | 18 pocket | case |
| 17 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 18 pocket | nmod:poss |
| 18 | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 carry | obl | ||
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 messenger | det |
| 20 | messenger | messenger | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 carry | obj |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 horse | cc |
| 22 | horse | horse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 messenger | conj |
| 23 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 25 days | det |
| 24 | six | six | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 25 days | nummod |
| 25 | days | day | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 journey | nmod:poss |
| 26 | ’ | 's | PART | _ | 25 days | case |
| 27 | journey | journey | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 carry | obj |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 return | punct |
| 29 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 return | cc |
| 30 | return | return | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 13 obliged | conj |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 messenger | det |
| 32 | said | say | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 33 messenger | amod |
| 33 | messenger | messenger | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 return | obj |
| 34 | ( | ( | PUNCT | _ | 37 required | punct |
| 35 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 37 required | mark |
| 36 | so | so | ADV | _ | 37 required | advmod |
| 37 | required | require | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 30 return | advcl |
| 38 | ) | ) | PUNCT | _ | 37 required | punct |
| 39 | safe | safe | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 37 required | xcomp |
| 40 | to | to | ADP | _ | 43 presence | case |
| 41 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 43 presence | nmod:poss |
| 42 | imperial | imperial | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 presence | amod |
| 43 | presence | presence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 safe | obl |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 13 obliged | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | require a condition, not said to happen | present | a express | extraordinary speed | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme speed=Precondition | ||||
| 2 | oblige | shall · passive | the Man Mountain | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: subject=Patient clause=Result | |||||
| 3 | carry | to-infinitive | the messenger and horse | Mountain's pocket | vn cost-54.2 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Theme messenger=Beneficiary journey=Value | ||||
| 4 | return | infinitive | the said messenger | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent messenger=Theme | |||||
| 5 | say speech: assert | participle | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 6 | require | participle | safe property | vn require-103-1 «NP V NP S_INF»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 7 | journey | a six days | nom journey «act transitive»: 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 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/pg503/45/30/