Legends of the conquest of Spain, Chapter IX., sentence 31
It would appear from some authorities, also, that the galleys of Taric cruised along the coasts of Andalusia and Lusitania, under the feigned character of merchant barks: nor is this at all improbable, while they were seeking merely to observe the land, and get a knowledge of the harbours.
Who acts: It, galleys · What happens: appear, cruise, feign, be, seek, observe · To what, where: authorities, coasts, this, land, knowledge
This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Chapter IX.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, galleys), 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 | It | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 3 appear | nsubj |
| 2 | would | would | AUX | VerbForm=Fin | 3 appear | aux |
| 3 | appear | appear | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | root | root |
| 4 | from | from | ADP | _ | 6 authorities | case |
| 5 | some | some | DET | PronType=Ind | 6 authorities | det |
| 6 | authorities | authority | NOUN | Number=Plur | 3 appear | obl |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 8 also | punct |
| 8 | also | also | ADV | _ | 3 appear | advmod |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 cruised | punct |
| 10 | that | that | SCONJ | _ | 15 cruised | mark |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 galleys | det |
| 12 | galleys | galley | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 cruised | nsubj |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 14 Taric | case |
| 14 | Taric | Taric | PROPN | Number=Sing | 12 galleys | nmod |
| 15 | cruised | cruise | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 3 appear | parataxis |
| 16 | along | along | ADP | _ | 18 coasts | case |
| 17 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 18 coasts | det |
| 18 | coasts | coast | NOUN | Number=Plur | 15 cruised | obl |
| 19 | of | of | ADP | _ | 20 Andalusia | case |
| 20 | Andalusia | Andalusia | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 coasts | nmod |
| 21 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 22 Lusitania | cc |
| 22 | Lusitania | Lusitania | PROPN | Number=Sing | 20 Andalusia | conj |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 character | punct |
| 24 | under | under | ADP | _ | 27 character | case |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 character | det |
| 26 | feigned | feign | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 27 character | amod |
| 27 | character | character | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 cruised | parataxis |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 30 barks | case |
| 29 | merchant | merchant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 barks | compound |
| 30 | barks | bark | NOUN | Number=Plur | 27 character | nmod |
| 31 | : | : | PUNCT | _ | 34 this | punct |
| 32 | nor | nor | CCONJ | Polarity=Neg | 34 this | cc |
| 33 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 34 this | cop |
| 34 | this | this | PRON | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 3 appear | obl |
| 35 | at | at | ADP | _ | 36 all | case |
| 36 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 3 appear | obl |
| 37 | improbable | improbable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 36 all | amod |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 42 seeking | punct |
| 39 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 42 seeking | mark |
| 40 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 42 seeking | nsubj |
| 41 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 42 seeking | aux |
| 42 | seeking | seek | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 3 appear | parataxis |
| 43 | merely | merely | ADV | _ | 42 seeking | advmod |
| 44 | to | to | PART | _ | 45 observe | mark |
| 45 | observe | observe | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 42 seeking | advcl |
| 46 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 47 land | det |
| 47 | land | land | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 observe | obj |
| 48 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 get | punct |
| 49 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 50 get | cc |
| 50 | get | get | VERB | Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin | 3 appear | parataxis |
| 51 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 52 knowledge | det |
| 52 | knowledge | knowledge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 get | obj |
| 53 | of | of | ADP | _ | 55 harbours | case |
| 54 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 55 harbours | det |
| 55 | harbours | harbour | NOUN | Number=Plur | 52 knowledge | nmod |
| 56 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 3 appear | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | appear | would | It | some authorities | at all | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at all=Location | |||
| 2 | cruise | participle | the galleys of Taric | the coasts of Andalusia and Lusitania | the feigned character of merchant barks parataxis | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent along coast=Trajectory | |||
| 3 | feign | participle | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 4 | is a | present | this | tree rules | |||||
| 5 | seek | past · progressive | galleys = galley | merely property | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 6 | observe | to-infinitive | galleys = galley not said here | the land | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent land=Topic | ||||
| 7 | get | infinitive | a knowledge of the harbours | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer knowledge=Stimulus |
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 of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, Project Gutenberg book 77685 (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/pg77685/10/31/