The Green Fairy Book, The Golden Mermaid, sentence 94
For many weeks the poor mermaid sat and watched over the dead body of her lover, weeping salt tears over his loss, when suddenly one day their old friend the wolf appeared and said, ‘Cover the Prince’s body with all the leaves and flowers you can find in the wood.’
Who acts: poor mermaid, wolf, you · What happens: sit, watch, weep, appear, say, cover · To what, where: dead body, salt tears, loss, body, leaves · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Mermaid. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (poor mermaid, wolf, you), 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 | For | for | ADP | _ | 3 weeks | case |
| 2 | many | many | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 3 weeks | amod |
| 3 | weeks | week | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 sat | obl |
| 4 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 mermaid | det |
| 5 | poor | poor | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 mermaid | amod |
| 6 | mermaid | mermaid | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 sat | nsubj |
| 7 | sat | sit | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 9 watched | cc |
| 9 | watched | watch | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 sat | conj |
| 10 | over | over | ADP | _ | 13 body | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 body | det |
| 12 | dead | dead | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 body | amod |
| 13 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 watched | obl |
| 14 | of | of | ADP | _ | 16 lover | case |
| 15 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 16 lover | nmod:poss |
| 16 | lover | lover | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 body | nmod |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 18 weeping | punct |
| 18 | weeping | weep | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 9 watched | advcl |
| 19 | salt | salt | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 tears | compound |
| 20 | tears | tear | NOUN | Number=Plur | 18 weeping | obj |
| 21 | over | over | ADP | _ | 23 loss | case |
| 22 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 23 loss | nmod:poss |
| 23 | loss | loss | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 weeping | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 appeared | punct |
| 25 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 34 appeared | advmod |
| 26 | suddenly | suddenly | ADV | _ | 27 one | advmod |
| 27 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 28 day | nummod |
| 28 | day | day | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 appeared | obl:unmarked |
| 29 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 31 friend | nmod:poss |
| 30 | old | old | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 31 friend | amod |
| 31 | friend | friend | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 day | appos |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 wolf | det |
| 33 | wolf | wolf | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 appeared | nsubj |
| 34 | appeared | appear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 7 sat | conj |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 said | cc |
| 36 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 appeared | conj |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 Cover | punct |
| 38 | ‘ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 39 Cover | punct |
| 39 | Cover | cover | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 said | ccomp |
| 40 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 41 Prince | det |
| 41 | Prince | Prince | PROPN | Number=Sing | 43 body | nmod:poss |
| 42 | ’s | 's | PART | _ | 41 Prince | case |
| 43 | body | body | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 Cover | obj |
| 44 | with | with | ADP | _ | 47 leaves | case |
| 45 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 47 leaves | det:predet |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 leaves | det |
| 47 | leaves | leaf | NOUN | Number=Plur | 39 Cover | obl |
| 48 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 49 flowers | cc |
| 49 | flowers | flower | NOUN | Number=Plur | 47 leaves | conj |
| 50 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 52 find | nsubj |
| 51 | can | can | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 52 find | aux |
| 52 | find | find | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 47 leaves | acl:relcl |
| 53 | in | in | ADP | _ | 55 wood | case |
| 54 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 55 wood | det |
| 55 | wood | wood | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 Cover | obl |
| 56 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 sat | punct |
| 57 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 7 sat | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | sit | past | the poor mermaid | week | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 2 | watch | past | the poor mermaid not said here | the dead body of mermaid's lover | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over body=Location | ||||
| 3 | weep | gerund | the poor mermaid not said here | salt tears | emperor's loss | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent tear=Theme | |||
| 4 | appear | past | the wolf | day | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | say speech: assert | past | the wolf not said here | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 6 | cover | infinitive | the Prince's body | with all leaves and flowers; in the wood | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent body=Destination in wood=Theme | ||||
| 7 | find | can | you | all leaves and flowers not said here | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leaf=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 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/pg7277/52/94/