The Red Fairy Book, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, sentence 6
He had heard that somewhere in the world there were girls whose necks were white and whose hands were small, who were always dressed in the finest silks and laces, and were called princesses, and while his companions round the fire saw nothing in the flames but common everyday fancies, he dreamed that he had the happiness to marry a princess.
Who acts: boy, girls, necks, hands, companions · What happens: hear, be, dress, call, see, dream · To what, where: world, finest silks, princesses, nothing, flames, happiness · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, girls, necks, hands), 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 | 3 heard | nsubj |
| 2 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 heard | aux |
| 3 | heard | hear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 4 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 5 somewhere | mark |
| 5 | somewhere | somewhere | ADV | PronType=Ind | 3 heard | advcl |
| 6 | in | in | ADP | _ | 8 world | case |
| 7 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 world | det |
| 8 | world | world | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 heard | obl |
| 9 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 10 were | expl |
| 10 | were | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 heard | parataxis |
| 11 | girls | girl | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 were | nsubj |
| 12 | whose | whose | PRON | Poss=Yes PronType=Rel | 13 necks | nmod:poss |
| 13 | necks | neck | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 white | nsubj |
| 14 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 white | cop |
| 15 | white | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 11 girls | acl:relcl |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 small | cc |
| 17 | whose | whose | PRON | Poss=Yes PronType=Rel | 18 hands | nmod:poss |
| 18 | hands | hand | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 small | nsubj |
| 19 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 20 small | cop |
| 20 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 white | conj |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 dressed | punct |
| 22 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 25 dressed | nsubj:pass |
| 23 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 25 dressed | aux:pass |
| 24 | always | always | ADV | PronType=Tot | 25 dressed | advmod |
| 25 | dressed | dress | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 small | conj |
| 26 | in | in | ADP | _ | 29 silks | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 silks | det |
| 28 | finest | fine | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 29 silks | amod |
| 29 | silks | silk | NOUN | Number=Plur | 25 dressed | obl |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 31 laces | cc |
| 31 | laces | lace | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 silks | conj |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 called | punct |
| 33 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 called | cc |
| 34 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 35 called | aux:pass |
| 35 | called | call | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 heard | parataxis |
| 36 | princesses | princess | NOUN | Number=Plur | 35 called | xcomp |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 saw | punct |
| 38 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 45 saw | cc |
| 39 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 41 companions | mark |
| 40 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 41 companions | nmod:poss |
| 41 | companions | companion | NOUN | Number=Plur | 45 saw | nsubj |
| 42 | round | round | ADP | _ | 44 fire | case |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 fire | det |
| 44 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 companions | nmod |
| 45 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 heard | conj |
| 46 | nothing | nothing | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Neg | 45 saw | obj |
| 47 | in | in | ADP | _ | 49 flames | case |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 flames | det |
| 49 | flames | flame | NOUN | Number=Plur | 45 saw | obl |
| 50 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 53 fancies | cc |
| 51 | common | common | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 53 fancies | amod |
| 52 | everyday | everyday | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 53 fancies | amod |
| 53 | fancies | fancy | NOUN | Number=Plur | 49 flames | conj |
| 54 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 56 dreamed | punct |
| 55 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 56 dreamed | nsubj |
| 56 | dreamed | dream | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 3 heard | conj |
| 57 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 59 had | mark |
| 58 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 59 had | nsubj |
| 59 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 56 dreamed | ccomp |
| 60 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 61 happiness | det |
| 61 | happiness | happiness | NOUN | Number=Sing | 59 had | obj |
| 62 | to | to | PART | _ | 63 marry | mark |
| 63 | marry | marry | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 61 happiness | acl |
| 64 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 65 princess | det |
| 65 | princess | princess | NOUN | Number=Sing | 63 marry | obj |
| 66 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 heard | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | hear | past · perfect | boy | the world | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 2 | be | past | girls | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | is | past | necks | white property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | is | past | hands | small property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | dress | past · passive | the finest silks and laces | always property | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | ||||
| 6 | call | past · passive | princesses | vn initiate_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V» | |||||
| 7 | see | past | boy's companions round the fire | nothing | the flames but common everyday fancies | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus | |||
| 8 | dream | past | boy | vn cognize-85 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 9 | have | past | boy | the happiness | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent happiness=Patient | ||||
| 10 | marry | to-infinitive | boy not said here | a princess | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent princess=Patient |
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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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/pg540/2/6/