The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 1, sentence 107
They longed to steal a few of the lambs, and approached the flock, and were more than startled to recognise Mr. Simon, whom they had drowned in the river, as the shepherd who was looking after the sheep.
Who acts: sheep, shepherd · What happens: long, steal, approach, be, startle, recognise · To what, where: few, flock, Simon, river
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sheep, shepherd), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 2 longed | nsubj |
| 2 | longed | long | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | to | to | PART | _ | 4 steal | mark |
| 4 | steal | steal | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 2 longed | xcomp |
| 5 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 few | det |
| 6 | few | few | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 steal | obj |
| 7 | of | of | ADP | _ | 9 lambs | case |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 lambs | det |
| 9 | lambs | lamb | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 few | nmod |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 approached | punct |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 approached | cc |
| 12 | approached | approach | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 longed | conj |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 flock | det |
| 14 | flock | flock | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 approached | obj |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 more | punct |
| 16 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 18 more | cc |
| 17 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 18 more | cop |
| 18 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 2 longed | conj |
| 19 | than | than | SCONJ | _ | 20 startled | mark |
| 20 | startled | startle | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 18 more | advcl |
| 21 | to | to | PART | _ | 22 recognise | mark |
| 22 | recognise | recognise | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 startled | xcomp |
| 23 | Mr. | Mr. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 24 Simon | nmod:desc |
| 24 | Simon | Simon | PROPN | Number=Sing | 22 recognise | obj |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 29 drowned | punct |
| 26 | whom | whom | PRON | PronType=Rel | 29 drowned | nsubj:pass |
| 27 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 drowned | nsubj:pass |
| 28 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 drowned | aux |
| 29 | drowned | drown | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 24 Simon | acl:relcl |
| 30 | in | in | ADP | _ | 32 river | case |
| 31 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 32 river | det |
| 32 | river | river | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 drowned | obl |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 shepherd | punct |
| 34 | as | as | ADP | _ | 36 shepherd | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 shepherd | det |
| 36 | shepherd | shepherd | NOUN | Number=Sing | 22 recognise | obl |
| 37 | who | who | PRON | PronType=Rel | 39 looking | nsubj |
| 38 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 looking | aux |
| 39 | looking | look | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 36 shepherd | acl:relcl |
| 40 | after | after | ADP | _ | 42 sheep | case |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 sheep | det |
| 42 | sheep | sheep | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 looking | obl |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 longed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | long | past | sheep | vn long-32.2 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | |||||
| 2 | steal not said to happen | to-infinitive | sheep not said here | a few of the lambs | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location few=Theme | ||||
| 3 | approach | past | sheep not said here | the flock | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flock=Theme | ||||
| 4 | is | past | sheep not said here | more property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | startle | participle | sheep not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 6 | recognise | to-infinitive | sheep not said here | Simon Mr. | as the shepherd | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer simon=Stimulus as shepherd=Attribute | |||
| 7 | drown | past · perfect · passive | Simon Mr. | the river | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | ||||
| 8 | look | past · progressive | the shepherd | after the sheep | vn stimulus_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
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/pg7277/26/107/