The Violet Fairy Book, The Story of Halfman, sentence 95
When he escaped from the house he ran on straight before him for some time, looking for a safe shelter, as he knew that the ogre’s legs were much longer than his, and that it was his only chance.
Who acts: Halfman, legs, shelter · What happens: escape, run on, look, know, be · To what, where: house
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Halfman. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Halfman, legs, shelter), 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 | When | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 3 escaped | advmod |
| 2 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 escaped | nsubj |
| 3 | escaped | escape | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 ran | advcl |
| 4 | from | from | ADP | _ | 6 house | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 house | det |
| 6 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 escaped | obl |
| 7 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 ran | nsubj |
| 8 | ran | run | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | on | on | ADV | _ | 8 ran | advmod |
| 10 | straight | straight | ADV | _ | 12 him | advmod |
| 11 | before | before | ADP | _ | 12 him | case |
| 12 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 8 ran | obl |
| 13 | for | for | ADP | _ | 15 time | case |
| 14 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 15 time | det |
| 15 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 ran | obl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 looking | punct |
| 17 | looking | look | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 8 ran | advcl |
| 18 | for | for | ADP | _ | 21 shelter | case |
| 19 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 21 shelter | det |
| 20 | safe | safe | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 21 shelter | amod |
| 21 | shelter | shelter | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 looking | obl |
| 22 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 knew | punct |
| 23 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 25 knew | mark |
| 24 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 knew | nsubj |
| 25 | knew | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 ran | conj |
| 26 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 33 longer | mark |
| 27 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 28 ogre | det |
| 28 | ogre | ogre | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 legs | nmod:poss |
| 29 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 28 ogre | case |
| 30 | legs | leg | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 longer | nsubj |
| 31 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 33 longer | cop |
| 32 | much | much | ADV | _ | 33 longer | advmod |
| 33 | longer | long | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 25 knew | advmod |
| 34 | than | than | ADP | _ | 43 chance | case |
| 35 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 43 chance | nmod:poss |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 chance | punct |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 43 chance | cc |
| 38 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 43 chance | mark |
| 39 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 chance | nsubj |
| 40 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 43 chance | cop |
| 41 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 43 chance | nmod:poss |
| 42 | only | only | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 43 chance | amod |
| 43 | chance | chance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 longer | obl |
| 44 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 ran | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | escape | past | Halfman | the house | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from house=Initial_Location | ||||
| 2 | run on | past | Halfman | before ogre; time | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before he=Trajectory | ||||
| 3 | look | gerund | Halfman not said here | for a safe shelter | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for shelter=Theme | ||||
| 4 | know | past | Halfman | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | |||||
| 5 | is | past | the ogre's legs | long property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | is | past | shelter | than Halfman's only chance | tree rules |
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/pg641/41/95/