Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 13, sentence 26
"We might attempt to take him by strategy," continued the orator; "but Arno is cunning as a fox, and we should probably only expose our town to more robbery if he discovered that we were trying to waylay him."
Who acts: We, orator, Arno · What happens: attempt, take, continue, be, expose, discover · To what, where: assembly, town, more robbery · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (We, orator, Arno), 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 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 attempt | punct |
| 2 | We | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 4 attempt | nsubj |
| 3 | might | might | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 attempt | aux |
| 4 | attempt | attempt | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | to | to | PART | _ | 6 take | mark |
| 6 | take | take | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 4 attempt | xcomp |
| 7 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 take | obj |
| 8 | by | by | ADP | _ | 9 strategy | case |
| 9 | strategy | strategy | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 take | obl |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 attempt | punct |
| 11 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 attempt | punct |
| 12 | continued | continue | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 attempt | parataxis |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 orator | det |
| 14 | orator | orator | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 continued | nsubj |
| 15 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 20 cunning | punct |
| 16 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 20 cunning | punct |
| 17 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 20 cunning | cc |
| 18 | Arno | Arno | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 cunning | nsubj |
| 19 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 20 cunning | cop |
| 20 | cunning | cunning | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 attempt | conj |
| 21 | as | as | ADP | _ | 23 fox | case |
| 22 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 23 fox | det |
| 23 | fox | fox | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 cunning | obl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 30 expose | punct |
| 25 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 30 expose | cc |
| 26 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 30 expose | nsubj |
| 27 | should | should | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 30 expose | aux |
| 28 | probably | probably | ADV | _ | 30 expose | advmod |
| 29 | only | only | ADV | _ | 30 expose | advmod |
| 30 | expose | expose | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 20 cunning | conj |
| 31 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 town | nmod:poss |
| 32 | town | town | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 expose | obj |
| 33 | to | to | ADP | _ | 35 robbery | case |
| 34 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 35 robbery | amod |
| 35 | robbery | robbery | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 expose | obl |
| 36 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 38 discovered | mark |
| 37 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 38 discovered | nsubj |
| 38 | discovered | discover | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 30 expose | advcl |
| 39 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 42 trying | mark |
| 40 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 42 trying | nsubj |
| 41 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 trying | aux |
| 42 | trying | try | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 38 discovered | advcl |
| 43 | to | to | PART | _ | 44 waylay | mark |
| 44 | waylay | waylay | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 42 trying | xcomp |
| 45 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 waylay | obj |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 attempt | punct |
| 47 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 4 attempt | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | attempt in a quote | might | We | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 2 | take not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | We not said here | assembly | by strategy | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument he=Destination | |||
| 3 | continue | past | the orator | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 4 | is in a quote | present | Arno | as a fox; cunning property | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | expose in a quote | should | we | our town | more robbery | probably property | vn reflexive_appearance-48.1.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent town=Theme to robbery=Recipient | ||
| 6 | discover a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | past | Arno | vn discover-84-1 «NP V PP.topic S_ING»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | try in a quote | past · progressive | we | vn try-61.1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 8 | waylay not said to happen, in a quote | to-infinitive | we not said here | assembly | tree rules |
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/pg74323/14/26/