Folk tales from Tibet, The Prince and the Ogre’s Castle., sentence 57
“It is very difficult,” replied the Princess, “for any human being to kill the Ogre, for he is of a supernatural nature, and even if you were to cut off his head he would come to life again at once, unless you could also destroy his ‘mascot’ [6]—that is to say, the object upon the preservation of which his life in this world depends.
Who acts: difficult, Ogre, you, that, life · What happens: be, reply, kill, cut off, come, destroy · To what, where: Ogre, head, life, mascot · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Prince and the Ogre’s Castle.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (difficult, Ogre, you, that), 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 | _ | 5 difficult | punct |
| 2 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 difficult | expl |
| 3 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 5 difficult | cop |
| 4 | very | very | ADV | _ | 5 difficult | advmod |
| 5 | difficult | difficult | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 replied | nsubj |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 difficult | punct |
| 7 | ” | " | PUNCT | _ | 5 difficult | punct |
| 8 | replied | reply | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 Princess | det |
| 10 | Princess | Princess | PROPN | Number=Sing | 8 replied | nsubj |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 nature | punct |
| 12 | “ | " | PUNCT | _ | 28 nature | punct |
| 13 | for | for | ADP | _ | 28 nature | case |
| 14 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 28 nature | det |
| 15 | human | human | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 nature | amod |
| 16 | being | be | AUX | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 28 nature | cop |
| 17 | to | to | PART | _ | 18 kill | mark |
| 18 | kill | kill | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 nature | advcl |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 Ogre | det |
| 20 | Ogre | Ogre | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 kill | obj |
| 21 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 28 nature | punct |
| 22 | for | for | ADP | _ | 28 nature | case |
| 23 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 nature | nsubj |
| 24 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 28 nature | cop |
| 25 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 nature | case |
| 26 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 28 nature | det |
| 27 | supernatural | supernatural | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 28 nature | amod |
| 28 | nature | nature | NOUN | Number=Sing | 10 Princess | appos |
| 29 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 cut | punct |
| 30 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 cut | cc |
| 31 | even | even | ADV | _ | 36 cut | advmod |
| 32 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 36 cut | mark |
| 33 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 36 cut | nsubj |
| 34 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 36 cut | aux |
| 35 | to | to | PART | _ | 36 cut | mark |
| 36 | cut | cut | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 28 nature | parataxis |
| 37 | off | off | ADP | _ | 36 cut | compound:prt |
| 38 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 39 head | nmod:poss |
| 39 | head | head | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 cut | obj |
| 40 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 come | nsubj |
| 41 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 42 come | aux |
| 42 | come | come | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 cut | conj |
| 43 | to | to | ADP | _ | 44 life | case |
| 44 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 come | obl |
| 45 | again | again | ADV | _ | 42 come | advmod |
| 46 | at | at | ADP | _ | 47 once | case |
| 47 | once | once | ADV | NumForm=Word NumType=Mult | 42 come | obl |
| 48 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 53 destroy | punct |
| 49 | unless | unless | SCONJ | _ | 53 destroy | mark |
| 50 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 53 destroy | nsubj |
| 51 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 53 destroy | aux |
| 52 | also | also | ADV | _ | 53 destroy | advmod |
| 53 | destroy | destroy | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 42 come | conj |
| 54 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 56 mascot | nmod:poss |
| 55 | ‘ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 56 mascot | punct |
| 56 | mascot | mascot | NOUN | Number=Sing | 53 destroy | obj |
| 57 | ’ | ' | PUNCT | _ | 53 destroy | punct |
| 58 | [ | [ | PUNCT | _ | 59 6 | punct |
| 59 | 6 | 6 | NUM | NumForm=Digit NumType=Card | 53 destroy | obl |
| 60 | ] | ] | PUNCT | _ | 59 6 | punct |
| 61 | — | - | PUNCT | _ | 65 say | punct |
| 62 | that | that | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 65 say | nsubj:outer |
| 63 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 65 say | cop |
| 64 | to | to | PART | _ | 65 say | mark |
| 65 | say | say | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 cut | conj |
| 66 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 68 object | punct |
| 67 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 68 object | det |
| 68 | object | object | NOUN | Number=Sing | 65 say | obj |
| 69 | upon | upon | ADP | _ | 71 preservation | case |
| 70 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 71 preservation | det |
| 71 | preservation | preservation | NOUN | Number=Sing | 68 object | nmod |
| 72 | of | of | ADP | _ | 73 which | case |
| 73 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 79 depends | obl |
| 74 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 75 life | nmod:poss |
| 75 | life | life | NOUN | Number=Sing | 79 depends | nsubj |
| 76 | in | in | ADP | _ | 78 world | case |
| 77 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 78 world | det |
| 78 | world | world | NOUN | Number=Sing | 75 life | nmod |
| 79 | depends | depend | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 71 preservation | acl:relcl |
| 80 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 replied | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is in a quote | present | difficult property | tree rules | |||||
| 2 | reply speech: assert | past | difficult | the Princess nsubj | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 3 | kill in a quote | to-infinitive | Ogre not said here | the Ogre | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ogre=Theme | ||||
| 4 | is in a quote | gerund | Ogre | for any human supernatural nature | tree rules | ||||
| 5 | cut off a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | past | you | Ogre's head | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality | ||||
| 6 | come in a quote | would | Ogre | life | again | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial_location»: agent=Theme to life=Initial_Location | |||
| 7 | destroy a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | could | you | Ogre's mascot | 6 obl | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mascot=Patient | |||
| 8 | is in a quote | present | that | the object obj; say property | tree rules | ||||
| 9 | depend in a quote | present | Ogre's life in this world | of the preservation | vn rely-70 «NP V PP.theme S_ING»: agent=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: «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, Project Gutenberg book 75000 (public domain in the USA). Tree: Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), the chapter read in order.
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