The Violet Fairy Book, The Frog, sentence 8
He wandered hither and thither, asking the girls that he met if they would undertake the task for him, but at the sight of the flax they laughed in his face and mocked at him.
Who acts: He, sons · What happens: wander, ask, meet, undertake, laugh, mock · To what, where: girls, task, sight, flax
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Frog. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (He, sons), 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 | 2 wandered | nsubj |
| 2 | wandered | wander | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | hither | hither | ADV | _ | 2 wandered | advmod |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 thither | cc |
| 5 | thither | thither | ADV | _ | 3 hither | conj |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 asking | punct |
| 7 | asking | ask | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 2 wandered | advcl |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 girls | det |
| 9 | girls | girl | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 asking | obj |
| 10 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 12 met | mark |
| 11 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 12 met | nsubj |
| 12 | met | meet | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 9 girls | acl:relcl |
| 13 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 16 undertake | mark |
| 14 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 undertake | nsubj |
| 15 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 16 undertake | aux |
| 16 | undertake | undertake | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 7 asking | ccomp |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 task | det |
| 18 | task | task | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 undertake | obj |
| 19 | for | for | ADP | _ | 20 him | case |
| 20 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 16 undertake | obl |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 laughed | punct |
| 22 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 30 laughed | cc |
| 23 | at | at | ADP | _ | 25 sight | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 sight | det |
| 25 | sight | sight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 laughed | obl |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 flax | case |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 flax | det |
| 28 | flax | flax | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 sight | nmod |
| 29 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 30 laughed | nsubj |
| 30 | laughed | laugh | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 wandered | parataxis |
| 31 | in | in | ADP | _ | 33 face | case |
| 32 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 33 face | nmod:poss |
| 33 | face | face | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 laughed | obl |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 mocked | cc |
| 35 | mocked | mock | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 laughed | conj |
| 36 | at | at | ADP | _ | 37 him | case |
| 37 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 mocked | obl |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 wandered | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | wander | past | He | hither property | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 2 | ask speech: ask | gerund | He not said here | the girls | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent girl=Recipient clause=Topic | ||||
| 3 | meet | past | he | the girls not said here | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent girl=Co-Agent | ||||
| 4 | undertake a condition, not said to happen | would | sons = son | the task | for him = he | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent task=Eventuality | |||
| 5 | laugh | past | sons = son | the sight of the flax | in his face | vn nonverbal_expression-40.2 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in face=Theme | |||
| 6 | mock | past | sons = son not said here | at him = he | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 7 | sight | the flax | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=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 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/pg641/36/8/