Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 5, sentence 60
And at midnight, when the death-owl hoots and soars over the vale on heavy wing, and the fantastic moonlight transforms the dry trunks of the trees into grey spirits of the night, the giant forms of hunters brush past, and the firs whisper, then roar, and a smothered crash rushes on like the swelling waves of the sea.
Who acts: fantastic moonlight, hunters, firs, smothered crash · What happens: transform, brush past, whisper, roar, smother, rush on · To what, where: dry trunks, grey spirits, giant forms, sea
This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fantastic moonlight, hunters, firs, smothered crash), 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 | And | and | CCONJ | _ | 3 midnight | cc |
| 2 | at | at | ADP | _ | 3 midnight | case |
| 3 | midnight | midnight | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 4 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 10 hoots | punct |
| 5 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 10 hoots | advmod |
| 6 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 hoots | det |
| 7 | death | death | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 owl | compound |
| 8 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 7 death | punct |
| 9 | owl | owl | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 hoots | compound |
| 10 | hoots | hoot | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 midnight | appos |
| 11 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 12 soars | cc |
| 12 | soars | soar | NOUN | Number=Plur | 10 hoots | conj |
| 13 | over | over | ADP | _ | 15 vale | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 vale | det |
| 15 | vale | vale | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 hoots | nmod |
| 16 | on | on | ADP | _ | 18 wing | case |
| 17 | heavy | heavy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 18 wing | amod |
| 18 | wing | wing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 vale | nmod |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 transforms | punct |
| 20 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 24 transforms | cc |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 moonlight | det |
| 22 | fantastic | fantastic | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 moonlight | amod |
| 23 | moonlight | moonlight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 24 transforms | nsubj |
| 24 | transforms | transform | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 10 hoots | conj |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 trunks | det |
| 26 | dry | dry | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 trunks | amod |
| 27 | trunks | trunk | NOUN | Number=Plur | 24 transforms | obj |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 30 trees | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 trees | det |
| 30 | trees | tree | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 trunks | nmod |
| 31 | into | into | ADP | _ | 33 spirits | case |
| 32 | grey | grey | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 33 spirits | amod |
| 33 | spirits | spirit | NOUN | Number=Plur | 24 transforms | obl |
| 34 | of | of | ADP | _ | 36 night | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 night | det |
| 36 | night | night | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 spirits | nmod |
| 37 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 40 forms | punct |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 forms | det |
| 39 | giant | giant | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 forms | amod |
| 40 | forms | form | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 spirits | conj |
| 41 | of | of | ADP | _ | 42 hunters | case |
| 42 | hunters | hunter | NOUN | Number=Plur | 43 brush | nsubj |
| 43 | brush | brush | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 40 forms | acl:relcl |
| 44 | past | past | ADV | _ | 43 brush | advmod |
| 45 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 49 whisper | punct |
| 46 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 49 whisper | cc |
| 47 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 48 firs | det |
| 48 | firs | fir | NOUN | Number=Plur | 49 whisper | nsubj |
| 49 | whisper | whisper | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 43 brush | conj |
| 50 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 52 roar | punct |
| 51 | then | then | ADV | PronType=Dem | 52 roar | advmod |
| 52 | roar | roar | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 49 whisper | xcomp |
| 53 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 58 rushes | punct |
| 54 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 58 rushes | cc |
| 55 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 57 crash | det |
| 56 | smothered | smother | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 57 crash | amod |
| 57 | crash | crash | NOUN | Number=Sing | 58 rushes | nsubj |
| 58 | rushes | rush | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 52 roar | conj |
| 59 | on | on | ADP | _ | 58 rushes | compound:prt |
| 60 | like | like | ADP | _ | 63 waves | case |
| 61 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 63 waves | det |
| 62 | swelling | swelling | NOUN | Number=Sing | 63 waves | compound |
| 63 | waves | wave | NOUN | Number=Plur | 58 rushes | obl |
| 64 | of | of | ADP | _ | 66 sea | case |
| 65 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 66 sea | det |
| 66 | sea | sea | NOUN | Number=Sing | 63 waves | nmod |
| 67 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 midnight | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | transform | present | the fantastic moonlight | the dry trunks of the trees | into grey spirits of the night and the giant forms result | vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: agent=Agent trunk=Patient into spirit=Result | |||
| 2 | brush past | present | hunters | the giant forms not said here | past property | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent form=Theme | |||
| 3 | whisper speech: assert | present | the firs | vn manner_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | roar | infinitive | the firs not said here | then | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 5 | smother | participle | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 6 | rush on | present | a smothered crash | like the swelling waves of the sea | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 8 | wave | the sea | nom wave «event transitive»: of=patient |
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/pg74323/22/60/