Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 7, sentence 69
They could scarcely distinguish the spot where the altar had stood, and where masses of broken, scattered stones betrayed the fury of the storm that had destroyed it.
Who acts: curiosity, altar, masses · What happens: distinguish, stand, break, betray, destroy, infuriate · To what, where: spot, fury, storm
This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, A Historical Tale., part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (curiosity, altar, masses), 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 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 4 distinguish | nsubj |
| 2 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 4 distinguish | aux |
| 3 | scarcely | scarcely | ADV | _ | 4 distinguish | advmod |
| 4 | distinguish | distinguish | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 spot | det |
| 6 | spot | spot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 distinguish | obj |
| 7 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 11 stood | advmod |
| 8 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 9 altar | det |
| 9 | altar | altar | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 stood | nsubj |
| 10 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 11 stood | aux |
| 11 | stood | stand | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 6 spot | acl:relcl |
| 12 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 21 betrayed | punct |
| 13 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 21 betrayed | cc |
| 14 | where | where | ADV | PronType=Rel | 21 betrayed | advmod |
| 15 | masses | mass | NOUN | Number=Plur | 21 betrayed | nsubj |
| 16 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 stones | case |
| 17 | broken | break | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 20 stones | amod |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 scattered | punct |
| 19 | scattered | scatter | ADJ | _ | 20 stones | amod |
| 20 | stones | stone | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 masses | nmod |
| 21 | betrayed | betray | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 4 distinguish | parataxis |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 fury | det |
| 23 | fury | fury | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 betrayed | obj |
| 24 | of | of | ADP | _ | 26 storm | case |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 26 storm | det |
| 26 | storm | storm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 fury | nmod |
| 27 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 29 destroyed | nsubj:pass |
| 28 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 destroyed | aux |
| 29 | destroyed | destroy | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 26 storm | acl:relcl |
| 30 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 destroyed | obj |
| 31 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 4 distinguish | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | distinguish | could | curiosity | the spot | scarcely property | vn distinguish-23.5-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Attribute spot=Theme | |||
| 2 | stand | past · perfect | the altar | vn assuming_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 3 | break | participle | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 4 | betray | past | masses of broken scattered stones | the fury of the storm | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | destroy | past · perfect · passive | the storm | fury obj | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | infuriate | the storm | nom fury «feeling 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/pg74323/24/69/