The Violet Fairy Book, The Goat’s Ears of the Emperor Trojan, sentence 24

The culprit tried to defend himself by saying that he had never told anyone what he had noticed; but the emperor, instead of listening, only drew his sword from its sheath, which so frightened the poor fellow that he confessed exactly what he had done, and how he had whispered the truth three times to the earth, and how in that very place an elder tree had sprung up, and flutes had been cut from it, which would only repeat the words he had said.

Who acts: culprit, tree · What happens: try, defend, say, not tell, notice, listen · To what, where: emperor, culprit, anyone, sword, sheath, poor fellow · Speech: someone speaks here

This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Goat’s Ears of the Emperor Trojan. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (culprit, tree), 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	The	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	2 culprit	det
2	culprit	culprit	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 tried	nsubj
3	tried	try	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	root	root
4	to	to	PART	_	5 defend	mark
5	defend	defend	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	3 tried	xcomp
6	himself	himself	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes	5 defend	obj
7	by	by	SCONJ	_	8 saying	mark
8	saying	say	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	5 defend	advcl
9	that	that	SCONJ	_	13 told	mark
10	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	13 told	nsubj
11	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	13 told	aux
12	never	never	ADV	PronType=Neg	13 told	advmod
13	told	tell	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	8 saying	ccomp
14	anyone	anyone	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	13 told	iobj
15	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	18 noticed	obj
16	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	18 noticed	nsubj
17	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	18 noticed	aux
18	noticed	notice	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	14 anyone	acl:relcl
19	;	;	PUNCT	_	22 emperor	punct
20	but	but	CCONJ	_	22 emperor	cc
21	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	22 emperor	det
22	emperor	emperor	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 tried	obl
23	,	,	PUNCT	_	26 listening	punct
24	instead	instead	ADV	ExtPos=SCONJ	26 listening	mark
25	of	of	ADP	_	24 instead	fixed
26	listening	listen	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	22 emperor	nmod
27	,	,	PUNCT	_	29 drew	punct
28	only	only	ADV	_	29 drew	advmod
29	drew	draw	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	26 listening	advcl
30	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	31 sword	nmod:poss
31	sword	sword	NOUN	Number=Sing	29 drew	obj
32	from	from	ADP	_	34 sheath	case
33	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	34 sheath	nmod:poss
34	sheath	sheath	NOUN	Number=Sing	29 drew	obl
35	,	,	PUNCT	_	38 frightened	punct
36	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	38 frightened	obj
37	so	so	ADV	_	38 frightened	advmod
38	frightened	frighten	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	34 sheath	acl:relcl
39	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	41 fellow	det
40	poor	poor	ADJ	Degree=Pos	41 fellow	amod
41	fellow	fellow	NOUN	Number=Sing	38 frightened	obj
42	that	that	SCONJ	_	44 confessed	mark
43	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	44 confessed	nsubj
44	confessed	confess	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	41 fellow	acl
45	exactly	exactly	ADV	_	46 what	advmod
46	what	what	PRON	PronType=Int	44 confessed	obj
47	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	49 done	nsubj
48	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	49 done	aux
49	done	do	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	46 what	acl:relcl
50	,	,	PUNCT	_	55 whispered	punct
51	and	and	CCONJ	_	55 whispered	cc
52	how	how	ADV	PronType=Int	55 whispered	advmod
53	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	55 whispered	nsubj
54	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	55 whispered	aux
55	whispered	whisper	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	3 tried	conj
56	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	57 truth	det
57	truth	truth	NOUN	Number=Sing	55 whispered	obj
58	three	three	NUM	NumForm=Word NumType=Card	59 times	nummod
59	times	time	NOUN	Number=Plur	55 whispered	obl:unmarked
60	to	to	ADP	_	62 earth	case
61	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	62 earth	det
62	earth	earth	NOUN	Number=Sing	55 whispered	obl
63	,	,	PUNCT	_	74 sprung	punct
64	and	and	CCONJ	_	74 sprung	cc
65	how	how	ADV	PronType=Int	74 sprung	advmod
66	in	in	ADP	_	69 place	case
67	that	that	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	69 place	det
68	very	very	ADV	_	69 place	advmod
69	place	place	NOUN	Number=Sing	74 sprung	obl
70	an	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	72 tree	det
71	elder	elder	NOUN	Number=Sing	72 tree	compound
72	tree	tree	NOUN	Number=Sing	74 sprung	nsubj:pass
73	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	74 sprung	aux
74	sprung	spring	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	3 tried	parataxis
75	up	up	ADP	_	74 sprung	compound:prt
76	,	,	PUNCT	_	81 cut	punct
77	and	and	CCONJ	_	81 cut	cc
78	flutes	flute	NOUN	Number=Plur	81 cut	nsubj:pass
79	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	81 cut	aux
80	been	be	AUX	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	81 cut	aux:pass
81	cut	cut	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	74 sprung	parataxis
82	from	from	ADP	_	83 it	case
83	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	81 cut	obl
84	,	,	PUNCT	_	88 repeat	punct
85	which	which	PRON	PronType=Rel	88 repeat	nsubj
86	would	would	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	88 repeat	aux
87	only	only	ADV	_	88 repeat	advmod
88	repeat	repeat	VERB	VerbForm=Inf	81 cut	conj
89	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	90 words	det
90	words	word	NOUN	Number=Plur	88 repeat	obj
91	he	he	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	93 said	nsubj
92	had	have	AUX	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin	93 said	aux
93	said	say	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	90 words	acl:relcl
94	.	.	PUNCT	_	3 tried	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	roles by
1	try	past	the culprit	the emperor				vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality
2	defend not said to happen	to-infinitive	the culprit not said here	culprit				vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Beneficiary
3	say speech: assert	gerund	the culprit not said here					vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic
4	not tell speech: assert	past · perfect	culprit		anyone			vn transfer_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent anyone=Recipient
5	notice	past · perfect	culprit					vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus
6	listen	gerund						vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent
7	draw	past		culprit's sword		sword's sheath		vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial_location»: agent=Agent sword=Theme from sheath=Initial_Location
8	frighten	past		sword's sheath				vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Stimulus which=Experiencer fellow=Result
9	confess	past	culprit	the poor fellow				vn confess-37.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic
10	do	past · perfect	culprit					vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent
11	whisper speech: assert	past · perfect	culprit	the truth	the earth		time	vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent truth=Topic to earth=Recipient
12	spring up	past · perfect · passive		a elder tree		that place		vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme
13	cut	past · perfect · passive		flutes		sword		vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V PP»: subject=Product from it=Material
14	repeat	would		the words				vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Eventuality
15	say speech: assert	past · perfect	tree	the words not said here				vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent word=Topic

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.

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