Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 4, sentence 59
I knew there was an English clergyman in the place, the Rev. William Samper, and we thought it better to acquaint him with our embarrassment, as we were alone, and ask his advice.
Who acts: I, English clergyman, we, our · What happens: know, be, think, acquaint, ask, embarrass · To what, where: clergyman, Rev., advice · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, English clergyman, we, our), 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 | I | I | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Sing Person=1 PronType=Prs | 2 knew | nsubj |
| 2 | knew | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 3 | there | there | PRON | PronType=Dem | 4 was | expl |
| 4 | was | be | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 knew | ccomp |
| 5 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 7 clergyman | det |
| 6 | English | English | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 7 clergyman | amod |
| 7 | clergyman | clergyman | NOUN | Number=Sing | 4 was | nsubj |
| 8 | in | in | ADP | _ | 10 place | case |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 place | det |
| 10 | place | place | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 clergyman | nmod |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 William | punct |
| 12 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 William | det |
| 13 | Rev. | Rev. | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 William | nmod:desc |
| 14 | William | William | PROPN | Number=Sing | 10 place | appos |
| 15 | Samper | Samper | PROPN | Number=Sing | 14 William | flat |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 thought | punct |
| 17 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 thought | cc |
| 18 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 19 thought | nsubj |
| 19 | thought | think | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 2 knew | conj |
| 20 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 thought | obj |
| 21 | better | good | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 23 acquaint | punct |
| 22 | to | to | PART | _ | 23 acquaint | mark |
| 23 | acquaint | acquaint | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 19 thought | ccomp |
| 24 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 23 acquaint | obj |
| 25 | with | with | ADP | _ | 27 embarrassment | case |
| 26 | our | our | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=1 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 embarrassment | nmod:poss |
| 27 | embarrassment | embarrassment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 acquaint | obl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 alone | punct |
| 29 | as | as | SCONJ | _ | 32 alone | mark |
| 30 | we | we | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=1 PronType=Prs | 32 alone | nsubj |
| 31 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 32 alone | cop |
| 32 | alone | alone | ADV | _ | 23 acquaint | advmod |
| 33 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 35 ask | punct |
| 34 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 35 ask | cc |
| 35 | ask | ask | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 23 acquaint | conj |
| 36 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 37 advice | nmod:poss |
| 37 | advice | advice | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 ask | obj |
| 38 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 2 knew | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | know | past | I | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | |||||
| 2 | be | past | a English clergyman in the place | there | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 3 | think speech: other | past | we | clergyman | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent it=Attribute clause=Theme | ||||
| 4 | acquaint speech: other | to-infinitive | Rev. | with our embarrassment | vn tell-37.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient | ||||
| 5 | is | past | we | alone property | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | ask speech: ask | infinitive | Rev.'s advice | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent advice=Recipient | |||||
| 7 | embarrass | our | nom embarrassment «feeling 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/pg74323/5/59/