The Red Fairy Book, Mother Holle, part 2, sentence 37
But he did not do much harm to this Troll either, for when the time came when the Troll might be expected, he said as he had said before: ‘It is better that one should die than two,’ and then climbed up into the tree again.
Who acts: Ritter, time, better · What happens: not do, come, expect, say, be, die · To what, where: much harm, Troll, tree · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ritter, time, better), 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 | _ | 5 do | cc |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 do | nsubj |
| 3 | did | do | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 do | aux |
| 4 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 5 do | advmod |
| 5 | do | do | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 6 | much | much | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 harm | amod |
| 7 | harm | harm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 do | obj |
| 8 | to | to | ADP | _ | 10 Troll | case |
| 9 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 10 Troll | det |
| 10 | Troll | troll | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 do | obl |
| 11 | either | either | ADV | PronType=Ind | 5 do | advmod |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 came | punct |
| 13 | for | for | SCONJ | _ | 17 came | mark |
| 14 | when | when | SCONJ | _ | 17 came | mark |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 time | det |
| 16 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 came | nsubj |
| 17 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 do | conj |
| 18 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 23 expected | advmod |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 Troll | det |
| 20 | Troll | Troll | PROPN | Number=Sing | 23 expected | nsubj:pass |
| 21 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 23 expected | aux |
| 22 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 23 expected | aux:pass |
| 23 | expected | expect | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 17 came | advcl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 said | punct |
| 25 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 said | nsubj |
| 26 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 came | parataxis |
| 27 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 30 said | mark |
| 28 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 said | nsubj |
| 29 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 said | aux |
| 30 | said | say | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 26 said | ccomp |
| 31 | before | before | SCONJ | _ | 30 said | obl |
| 32 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 40 die | punct |
| 33 | ‘ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 36 better | punct |
| 34 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 better | expl |
| 35 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 36 better | cop |
| 36 | better | good | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 40 die | nsubj:outer |
| 37 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 38 one | det |
| 38 | one | one | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 die | nsubj |
| 39 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 40 die | aux |
| 40 | die | die | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 26 said | ccomp |
| 41 | than | than | ADP | _ | 42 two | case |
| 42 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 40 die | obl |
| 43 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 die | punct |
| 44 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 40 die | punct |
| 45 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 47 climbed | cc |
| 46 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 47 climbed | advmod |
| 47 | climbed | climb | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 said | conj |
| 48 | up | up | ADV | _ | 47 climbed | advmod |
| 49 | into | into | ADP | _ | 51 tree | case |
| 50 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 51 tree | det |
| 51 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 climbed | obl |
| 52 | again | again | ADV | _ | 47 climbed | advmod |
| 53 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 do | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not do | past · do-support | Ritter | much harm | to this Troll; either property | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harm=Eventuality | |||
| 2 | come | past | the time | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | expect | might · passive | the Troll | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | |||||
| 4 | say speech: assert | past | Ritter | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 5 | say speech: assert | past · perfect | Ritter | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | is | present | good property | tree rules | |||||
| 7 | die | should | better | than two | vn calibratable_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | ||||
| 8 | climb up | past | Ritter not said here | the tree | then; again | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into tree=Destination |
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/pg540/45/37/