The Green Fairy Book, Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla, sentence 158
The Prince was more distracted than ever, and tried vainly to escape from the castle, by leaping from the roof into the clouds; but every time they caught him, and rolling softly up, brought him back to the place from which he started, so at last he gave up the attempt and waited with desperate patience for the return of Melinette.
Who acts: cloud, Prince, Melinette · What happens: distract, try, escape, leap, catch, roll · To what, where: Prince, castle, roof, place, attempt, last
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Narcissus and the Princess Potentilla. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cloud, Prince, Melinette), 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 Prince | det |
| 2 | Prince | Prince | PROPN | Number=Sing | 5 distracted | nsubj:pass |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 distracted | aux:pass |
| 4 | more | more | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 5 distracted | advmod |
| 5 | distracted | distract | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | root | root |
| 6 | than | than | ADP | _ | 7 ever | case |
| 7 | ever | ever | ADV | PronType=Ind | 5 distracted | obl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 tried | punct |
| 9 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 10 tried | cc |
| 10 | tried | try | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 distracted | conj |
| 11 | vainly | vainly | ADV | _ | 10 tried | advmod |
| 12 | to | to | PART | _ | 13 escape | mark |
| 13 | escape | escape | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 tried | xcomp |
| 14 | from | from | ADP | _ | 16 castle | case |
| 15 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 castle | det |
| 16 | castle | castle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 escape | obl |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 leaping | punct |
| 18 | by | by | SCONJ | _ | 19 leaping | mark |
| 19 | leaping | leap | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 10 tried | advcl |
| 20 | from | from | ADP | _ | 22 roof | case |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 roof | det |
| 22 | roof | roof | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 leaping | obl |
| 23 | into | into | ADP | _ | 25 clouds | case |
| 24 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 25 clouds | det |
| 25 | clouds | cloud | NOUN | Number=Plur | 19 leaping | obl |
| 26 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 31 caught | punct |
| 27 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 31 caught | cc |
| 28 | every | every | DET | PronType=Tot | 29 time | det |
| 29 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 caught | obl:unmarked |
| 30 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 caught | nsubj |
| 31 | caught | catch | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 distracted | parataxis |
| 32 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 31 caught | obj |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 brought | punct |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 brought | cc |
| 35 | rolling | roll | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 39 brought | advcl |
| 36 | softly | softly | ADV | _ | 37 up | advmod |
| 37 | up | up | ADV | _ | 35 rolling | advmod |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 rolling | punct |
| 39 | brought | bring | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 caught | conj |
| 40 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 brought | obj |
| 41 | back | back | ADV | _ | 39 brought | advmod |
| 42 | to | to | ADP | _ | 44 place | case |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 place | det |
| 44 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 brought | obl |
| 45 | from | from | ADP | _ | 46 which | case |
| 46 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 48 started | obl |
| 47 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 started | nsubj |
| 48 | started | start | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 44 place | acl:relcl |
| 49 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 54 gave | punct |
| 50 | so | so | ADV | _ | 54 gave | advmod |
| 51 | at | at | ADP | _ | 52 last | case |
| 52 | last | last | NOUN | Number=Sing | 54 gave | obl |
| 53 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 54 gave | nsubj |
| 54 | gave | give | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 31 caught | conj |
| 55 | up | up | ADP | _ | 54 gave | compound:prt |
| 56 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 57 attempt | det |
| 57 | attempt | attempt | NOUN | Number=Sing | 54 gave | obj |
| 58 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 59 waited | cc |
| 59 | waited | wait | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 54 gave | conj |
| 60 | with | with | ADP | _ | 62 patience | case |
| 61 | desperate | desperate | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 62 patience | amod |
| 62 | patience | patience | NOUN | Number=Sing | 59 waited | obl |
| 63 | for | for | ADP | _ | 65 return | case |
| 64 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 65 return | det |
| 65 | return | return | NOUN | Number=Sing | 59 waited | obl |
| 66 | of | of | ADP | _ | 67 Melinette | case |
| 67 | Melinette | Melinette | PROPN | Number=Sing | 65 return | nmod |
| 68 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 distracted | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | distract | past · passive | the Prince | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer | |||||
| 2 | try | past | vainly property | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 3 | escape not said to happen | to-infinitive | the castle | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme from castle=Initial_Location | |||||
| 4 | leap | gerund | the roof | into the clouds | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into cloud=Destination | ||||
| 5 | catch | past | cloud | Prince | time | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | |||
| 6 | roll | gerund | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 7 | bring back | past | cloud not said here | Prince | the place | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent he=Theme to place=Destination | |||
| 8 | start | past | Prince | the place | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||
| 9 | give up | past | Prince | the attempt | last | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attempt=Source | |||
| 10 | wait | past | Prince not said here | with desperate patience; for the return of Melinette | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 11 | return | Melinette | nom return «communication intransitive»: of=agent |
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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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/pg7277/11/158/