The Violet Fairy Book, Mogarzea and His Son, sentence 54
So they all went to the cherry tree, and when they were standing round it the youth explained that if he tried to cut it down with an axe he might very likely split open the heart of the tree, which was needed for the flute.
Who acts: notes, youth · What happens: go, stand, explain, try, cut down, split · To what, where: cherry tree, tree, axe, heart
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mogarzea and His Son. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (notes, youth), 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 | So | so | ADV | _ | 4 went | advmod |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 went | nsubj |
| 3 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 4 went | advmod |
| 4 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | ADP | _ | 8 tree | case |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 8 tree | det |
| 7 | cherry | cherry | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 tree | compound |
| 8 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 went | obl |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 explained | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 explained | cc |
| 11 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 14 standing | advmod |
| 12 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 standing | nsubj |
| 13 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 standing | aux |
| 14 | standing | stand | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 19 explained | advcl |
| 15 | round | round | ADP | _ | 16 it | case |
| 16 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 14 standing | obl |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 youth | det |
| 18 | youth | youth | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 explained | nsubj |
| 19 | explained | explain | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 went | conj |
| 20 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 23 tried | mark |
| 21 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 23 tried | mark |
| 22 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 tried | nsubj |
| 23 | tried | try | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 19 explained | ccomp |
| 24 | to | to | PART | _ | 25 cut | mark |
| 25 | cut | cut | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 tried | xcomp |
| 26 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 cut | obj |
| 27 | down | down | ADP | _ | 25 cut | compound:prt |
| 28 | with | with | ADP | _ | 30 axe | case |
| 29 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 30 axe | det |
| 30 | axe | axe | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 cut | obl |
| 31 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 35 split | nsubj |
| 32 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 35 split | aux |
| 33 | very | very | ADV | _ | 34 likely | advmod |
| 34 | likely | likely | ADV | _ | 35 split | advmod |
| 35 | split | split | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 30 axe | acl:relcl |
| 36 | open | open | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 25 cut | conj |
| 37 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 38 heart | det |
| 38 | heart | heart | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 open | obj |
| 39 | of | of | ADP | _ | 41 tree | case |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 tree | det |
| 41 | tree | tree | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 heart | nmod |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 45 needed | punct |
| 43 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 45 needed | nsubj:pass |
| 44 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 45 needed | aux:pass |
| 45 | needed | need | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 41 tree | acl |
| 46 | for | for | ADP | _ | 48 flute | case |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 flute | det |
| 48 | flute | flute | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 needed | obl |
| 49 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 went | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | go | past | notes = note | the cherry tree | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to tree=Initial_Location | ||||
| 2 | stand | past · progressive | notes = note | round tree | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | explain speech: assert | past | the youth | vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | try a condition, not said to happen | past | youth | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 5 | cut down not said to happen | to-infinitive | youth not said here | tree | with a axe | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient with axe=Instrument | |||
| 6 | split | might | youth | a axe not said here | likely property | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent axe=Patient | |||
| 7 | open | infinitive | youth not said here | the heart of the tree | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location heart=Theme | ||||
| 8 | need | past · passive | the tree | for the flute | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: subject=Theme |
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/pg641/44/54/