Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, A Historical Tale., part 7, sentence 71
A noise startled them; looking around they perceived the dogs behind a portion of the broken altar, scratching and digging, without troubling themselves at the presence of their masters, as if they had been fastened by enchantment to the spot.
Who acts: noise, curiosity, enchantment · What happens: startle, look around, perceive, break, scratch, dig · To what, where: curiosity, dogs, portion, presence
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 (noise, curiosity, enchantment), 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 | A | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 2 noise | det |
| 2 | noise | noise | NOUN | Number=Sing | 3 startled | nsubj |
| 3 | startled | startle | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 startled | obj |
| 5 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 6 looking | punct |
| 6 | looking | look | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 startled | advcl |
| 7 | around | around | ADP | _ | 9 perceived | mark |
| 8 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 9 perceived | nsubj |
| 9 | perceived | perceive | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 looking | ccomp |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 11 dogs | det |
| 11 | dogs | dog | NOUN | Number=Plur | 9 perceived | obj |
| 12 | behind | behind | ADP | _ | 14 portion | case |
| 13 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 14 portion | det |
| 14 | portion | portion | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 perceived | obl |
| 15 | of | of | ADP | _ | 18 altar | case |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 altar | det |
| 17 | broken | break | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 18 altar | amod |
| 18 | altar | altar | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 portion | nmod |
| 19 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 20 scratching | punct |
| 20 | scratching | scratch | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 6 looking | conj |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 digging | cc |
| 22 | digging | dig | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 20 scratching | conj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 25 troubling | punct |
| 24 | without | without | SCONJ | _ | 25 troubling | mark |
| 25 | troubling | trouble | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 6 looking | conj |
| 26 | themselves | themselves | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 25 troubling | obj |
| 27 | at | at | ADP | _ | 29 presence | case |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 presence | det |
| 29 | presence | presence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 troubling | obl |
| 30 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 masters | case |
| 31 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 32 masters | nmod:poss |
| 32 | masters | master | NOUN | Number=Plur | 29 presence | nmod |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 fastened | punct |
| 34 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 39 fastened | mark |
| 35 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 39 fastened | mark |
| 36 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 fastened | nsubj:pass |
| 37 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 fastened | aux |
| 38 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 39 fastened | aux:pass |
| 39 | fastened | fasten | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 startled | conj |
| 40 | by | by | ADP | _ | 41 enchantment | case |
| 41 | enchantment | enchantment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 fastened | obl |
| 42 | to | to | ADP | _ | 44 spot | case |
| 43 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 44 spot | det |
| 44 | spot | spot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 fastened | obl |
| 45 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 startled | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | startle | past | a noise | curiosity | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer | ||||
| 2 | look around | gerund | a noise not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | perceive | past | curiosity | the dogs | a portion of the broken altar | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer dog=Stimulus | |||
| 4 | break | participle | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | ||||||
| 5 | scratch | gerund | a noise not said here | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | dig | gerund | a noise not said here | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 7 | trouble | gerund | a noise not said here | curiosity | the presence of curiosity's masters | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus themselves=Experiencer | |||
| 8 | fasten a condition, not said to happen | past · perfect · passive | enchantment | curiosity | to the spot | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient to spot=Co-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/pg74323/24/71/