Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France, How Huon, Having Slain a Giant, Came to Babylon, sentence 3
These two beat with their flails without ceasing for one single moment, the one striking while the other ceased; and this they did so quickly that not even a swallow could fly between them without taking harm.
Who acts: two, one, this, swallow · What happens: beat, cease, strike, do, fly, take · To what, where: other, harm
This is a sentence of «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, How Huon, Having Slain a Giant, Came to Babylon. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two, one, this, swallow), 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 | These | this | DET | Number=Plur PronType=Dem | 2 two | det |
| 2 | two | two | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 3 beat | nsubj |
| 3 | beat | beat | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 4 | with | with | ADP | _ | 6 flails | case |
| 5 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 6 flails | nmod:poss |
| 6 | flails | flail | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 beat | obl |
| 7 | without | without | SCONJ | _ | 8 ceasing | mark |
| 8 | ceasing | cease | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 beat | advcl |
| 9 | for | for | ADP | _ | 12 moment | case |
| 10 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 12 moment | nummod |
| 11 | single | single | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 moment | amod |
| 12 | moment | moment | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 ceasing | obl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 one | punct |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 one | det |
| 15 | one | one | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 moment | appos |
| 16 | striking | strike | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 15 one | acl |
| 17 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 20 ceased | mark |
| 18 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 19 other | det |
| 19 | other | other | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 20 ceased | obl:unmarked |
| 20 | ceased | cease | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 16 striking | xcomp |
| 21 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 34 fly | punct |
| 22 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 25 did | cc |
| 23 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 25 did | nsubj |
| 24 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 25 did | nsubj |
| 25 | did | do | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 fly | advcl |
| 26 | so | so | ADV | _ | 27 quickly | advmod |
| 27 | quickly | quickly | ADV | _ | 25 did | advmod |
| 28 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 34 fly | mark |
| 29 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 32 swallow | advmod |
| 30 | even | even | ADV | _ | 32 swallow | advmod |
| 31 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 32 swallow | det |
| 32 | swallow | swallow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 fly | nsubj |
| 33 | could | could | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 34 fly | aux |
| 34 | fly | fly | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 3 beat | conj |
| 35 | between | between | ADP | _ | 36 them | case |
| 36 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 fly | obl |
| 37 | without | without | SCONJ | _ | 38 taking | mark |
| 38 | taking | take | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 34 fly | advcl |
| 39 | harm | harm | NOUN | Number=Sing | 38 taking | obj |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 beat | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | beat | present | this two | with men's flails | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with flail=Theme | ||||
| 2 | cease | gerund | this two not said here | moment | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||
| 3 | strike | gerund | the one not said here | tree rules | |||||
| 4 | cease | participle | the one not said here | the other | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||
| 5 | do | past | this | men = man nsubj; quickly property | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 6 | fly | could | a swallow | between men = man | vn spatial_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme between they=Location | ||||
| 7 | take | gerund | a swallow not said here | harm | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent harm=Theme |
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: «Stories of Charlemagne and the twelve Peers of France» by Alfred John Church, Project Gutenberg book 75339 (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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