Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 10, sentence 47
Sometimes they only came in small numbers, but the terror of their name went before them, and caused the inhabitants, despite their peculiar bravery, without opposition, to flee into the ravines and caves, while the enemy took possession of all they could lay hands on.
Who acts: mountaineers, terror, enemy · What happens: come, go, cause, flee, take, lay · To what, where: small numbers, inhabitants, ravines, possession, hands
This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mountaineers, terror, enemy), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Mova's own parse. This tree may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sometimes | sometimes | ADV | PronType=Ind | 4 came | advmod |
| 2 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 came | nsubj |
| 3 | only | only | ADV | _ | 4 came | advmod |
| 4 | came | come | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 5 | in | in | ADP | _ | 7 numbers | case |
| 6 | small | small | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 numbers | amod |
| 7 | numbers | number | NOUN | Number=Plur | 4 came | obl |
| 8 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 went | punct |
| 9 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 15 went | cc |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 terror | det |
| 11 | terror | terror | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 went | nsubj |
| 12 | of | of | ADP | _ | 14 name | case |
| 13 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 14 name | nmod:poss |
| 14 | name | name | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 terror | nmod |
| 15 | went | go | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 came | conj |
| 16 | before | before | ADP | _ | 17 them | case |
| 17 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 15 went | obl |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 caused | punct |
| 19 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 20 caused | cc |
| 20 | caused | cause | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 came | parataxis |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 inhabitants | det |
| 22 | inhabitants | inhabitant | NOUN | Number=Plur | 20 caused | obj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 bravery | punct |
| 24 | despite | despite | ADP | _ | 27 bravery | case |
| 25 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 bravery | nmod:poss |
| 26 | peculiar | peculiar | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 bravery | compound |
| 27 | bravery | bravery | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 caused | conj |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 opposition | punct |
| 29 | without | without | ADP | _ | 30 opposition | case |
| 30 | opposition | opposition | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 caused | obl |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 flee | punct |
| 32 | to | to | PART | _ | 33 flee | mark |
| 33 | flee | flee | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 came | conj |
| 34 | into | into | ADP | _ | 36 ravines | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 ravines | det |
| 36 | ravines | ravine | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 flee | obl |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 38 caves | cc |
| 38 | caves | cave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 36 ravines | conj |
| 39 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 took | punct |
| 40 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 43 took | mark |
| 41 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 42 enemy | det |
| 42 | enemy | enemy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 took | nsubj |
| 43 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 came | conj |
| 44 | possession | possession | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 took | obj |
| 45 | of | of | ADP | _ | 46 all | case |
| 46 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 44 possession | nmod |
| 47 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 49 lay | nsubj |
| 48 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 49 lay | aux |
| 49 | lay | lay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 43 took | advcl |
| 50 | hands | hand | NOUN | Number=Plur | 49 lay | obj |
| 51 | on | on | ADV | _ | 49 lay | advmod |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 came | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | come | past | mountaineers = mountaineer | small numbers | sometimes property | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in number=Location | |||
| 2 | go | past | the terror of mountaineers's name | before mountaineers = mountaineer | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme before they=Location | ||||
| 3 | cause | past | the inhabitants | without opposition; mountaineers's peculiar bravery conj | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition inhabitant=Patient | ||||
| 4 | flee | to-infinitive | mountaineers = mountaineer not said here | the ravines and caves | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme into ravine=Initial_Location | ||||
| 5 | take | past | the enemy | possession of all | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent possession=Theme | ||||
| 6 | lay | could | mountaineers = mountaineer | hands | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Result | ||||
| 7 | name | mountaineers = mountaineer | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=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: «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Project Gutenberg book 74323 (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/pg74323/11/47/