The Violet Fairy Book, Jesper Who Herded the Hares, sentence 96
Before he had quite grasped the fact that this was an impossible task, the keepers had opened the sacks in which the hares were brought to the field, and, with a whisk of the short tail and a flap of the long ears, each one of the hundred flew in a different direction.
Who acts: Jesper, this, keepers, whisk · What happens: grasp, be, open, bring, fly · To what, where: fact, impossible task, sacks, hares, different direction
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Jesper Who Herded the Hares. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Jesper, this, keepers, whisk), 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 | Before | before | SCONJ | _ | 5 grasped | mark |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 grasped | nsubj |
| 3 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 grasped | aux |
| 4 | quite | quite | ADV | _ | 5 grasped | advmod |
| 5 | grasped | grasp | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 7 fact | det |
| 7 | fact | fact | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 grasped | obj |
| 8 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 13 task | mark |
| 9 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 13 task | nsubj |
| 10 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 13 task | cop |
| 11 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 13 task | det |
| 12 | impossible | impossible | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 task | amod |
| 13 | task | task | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 opened | advcl |
| 14 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 task | punct |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 keepers | det |
| 16 | keepers | keeper | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 opened | nsubj |
| 17 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 opened | aux |
| 18 | opened | open | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 7 fact | acl |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 sacks | det |
| 20 | sacks | sack | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 opened | obj |
| 21 | in | in | ADP | _ | 22 which | case |
| 22 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 26 brought | obl |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 hares | det |
| 24 | hares | hare | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 brought | nsubj:pass |
| 25 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 26 brought | aux:pass |
| 26 | brought | bring | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 sacks | acl:relcl |
| 27 | to | to | ADP | _ | 29 field | case |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 field | det |
| 29 | field | field | NOUN | Number=Sing | 26 brought | obl |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 53 flew | punct |
| 31 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 53 flew | cc |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 whisk | punct |
| 33 | with | with | ADP | _ | 35 whisk | case |
| 34 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 35 whisk | det |
| 35 | whisk | whisk | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 flew | nsubj |
| 36 | of | of | ADP | _ | 39 tail | case |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 39 tail | det |
| 38 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 39 tail | amod |
| 39 | tail | tail | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 whisk | nmod |
| 40 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 42 flap | cc |
| 41 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 42 flap | det |
| 42 | flap | flap | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 whisk | conj |
| 43 | of | of | ADP | _ | 46 ears | case |
| 44 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 ears | det |
| 45 | long | long | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 46 ears | amod |
| 46 | ears | ear | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 flap | nmod |
| 47 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 49 one | punct |
| 48 | each | each | DET | PronType=Tot | 49 one | det |
| 49 | one | one | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 whisk | conj |
| 50 | of | of | ADP | _ | 52 hundred | case |
| 51 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 52 hundred | det |
| 52 | hundred | hundred | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 49 one | nmod |
| 53 | flew | fly | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 grasped | conj |
| 54 | in | in | ADP | _ | 57 direction | case |
| 55 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 57 direction | det |
| 56 | different | different | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 57 direction | amod |
| 57 | direction | direction | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 flew | obl |
| 58 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 grasped | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | grasp | past · perfect | Jesper | the fact | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer fact=Stimulus | ||||
| 2 | is a | past | this | a impossible task | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | open | past · perfect | the keepers | the sacks | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location sack=Theme | ||||
| 4 | bring | past · passive | the hares | the sacks | to the field | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to field=Destination | |||
| 5 | fly | past | a whisk of the short tail and a flap of the long ears and each one of the hundred | a different direction | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in direction=Location |
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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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/pg641/24/96/