The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter IV, sentence 28
But I plainly protested that I would never be the means of bringing a free and brave people into slavery; and though the wisest of the Ministers were of my opinion, my open refusal was so opposed to his Majesty’s ambition that he could never forgive me.
Who acts: I, open refusal, Majesty, my, Emperor · What happens: protest, not be, bring, be, not forgive, refuse · To what, where: free people, slavery, me · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter IV. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, open refusal, Majesty, my), 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 protested | cc |
| 2 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 4 protested | nsubj |
| 3 | plainly | plainly | ADV | _ | 4 protested | advmod |
| 4 | protested | protest | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 11 means | mark |
| 6 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 11 means | nsubj |
| 7 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 11 means | aux |
| 8 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 11 means | advmod |
| 9 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 11 means | cop |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 means | nsubj |
| 11 | means | mean | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 4 protested | ccomp |
| 12 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 13 bringing | mark |
| 13 | bringing | bring | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 11 means | advcl |
| 14 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 18 people | det |
| 15 | free | free | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 people | amod |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 17 brave | cc |
| 17 | brave | brave | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 free | conj |
| 18 | people | people | NOUN | Number=Plur | 13 bringing | obj |
| 19 | into | into | ADP | _ | 20 slavery | case |
| 20 | slavery | slavery | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 bringing | obl |
| 21 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 25 wisest | punct |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 wisest | cc |
| 23 | though | though | SCONJ | _ | 25 wisest | mark |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 wisest | det |
| 25 | wisest | wise | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 32 opinion | amod |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 Ministers | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 Ministers | det |
| 28 | Ministers | Minister | PROPN | Number=Plur | 32 opinion | obl |
| 29 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 opinion | cop |
| 30 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 opinion | case |
| 31 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 opinion | nmod:poss |
| 32 | opinion | opinion | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 protested | obj |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 opposed | punct |
| 34 | my | my | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Sing Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 refusal | nmod:poss |
| 35 | open | open | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 refusal | amod |
| 36 | refusal | refusal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 opposed | nsubj |
| 37 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 opposed | cop |
| 38 | so | so | ADV | _ | 39 opposed | advmod |
| 39 | opposed | opposed | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 32 opinion | conj |
| 40 | to | to | ADP | _ | 44 ambition | case |
| 41 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 44 ambition | nmod:poss |
| 42 | Majesty | Majesty | PROPN | Number=Sing | 44 ambition | nmod:poss |
| 43 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 42 Majesty | case |
| 44 | ambition | ambition | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 opposed | obl |
| 45 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 49 forgive | mark |
| 46 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 49 forgive | nsubj |
| 47 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 49 forgive | aux |
| 48 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 49 forgive | advmod |
| 49 | forgive | forgive | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 44 ambition | acl |
| 50 | me | I | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 49 forgive | obj |
| 51 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 protested | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | protest speech: disagree | past | I | plainly property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | not is | would | I | mean property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | bring | gerund | I not said here | a free people | slavery | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent people=Theme into slavery=Destination | |||
| 4 | is | past | of my wisest opinion; of the Ministers | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | is | past | my open refusal | to Emperor's ambition; opposed property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | not forgive | could | Majesty | me | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme | ||||
| 7 | refuse | my | nom refusal «communication transitive»: poss=agent | ||||||
| 8 | ambition | Emperor | nom ambition «feeling 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 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/pg503/46/28/