Legends of the conquest of Spain, The Cave of Hercules., sentence 50
The sacristan was a voluble and communicative man, and one not likely to be niggard of his tongue about any thing he knew, or slow to boast of any marvel pertaining to his church; but he professed utter ignorance of the existence of any such portal.
Who acts: sacristan, nobleman, marvel, such portal · What happens: be, know, boast, pertain, profess, ignore · To what, where: voluble man, niggard, thing, utter ignorance, existence
This is a sentence of «Legends of the conquest of Spain» by Washington Irving, The Cave of Hercules.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sacristan, nobleman, marvel, such portal), 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 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 2 sacristan | det |
| 2 | sacristan | sacristan | NOUN | Number=Sing | 8 man | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 man | cop |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 8 man | det |
| 5 | voluble | voluble | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 man | amod |
| 6 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 7 communicative | cc |
| 7 | communicative | communicative | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 voluble | conj |
| 8 | man | man | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 9 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 13 likely | punct |
| 10 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 13 likely | cc |
| 11 | one | one | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 13 likely | nsubj |
| 12 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 13 likely | advmod |
| 13 | likely | likely | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 8 man | parataxis |
| 14 | to | to | PART | _ | 16 niggard | mark |
| 15 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 16 niggard | cop |
| 16 | niggard | niggard | NOUN | Number=Sing | 13 likely | xcomp |
| 17 | of | of | ADP | _ | 19 tongue | case |
| 18 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 19 tongue | nmod:poss |
| 19 | tongue | tongue | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 niggard | nmod |
| 20 | about | about | ADP | _ | 22 thing | case |
| 21 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 22 thing | det |
| 22 | thing | thing | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 tongue | nmod |
| 23 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 24 knew | nsubj |
| 24 | knew | know | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 22 thing | acl:relcl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 slow | punct |
| 26 | or | or | CCONJ | _ | 27 slow | cc |
| 27 | slow | slow | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 likely | conj |
| 28 | to | to | PART | _ | 29 boast | mark |
| 29 | boast | boast | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 27 slow | xcomp |
| 30 | of | of | ADP | _ | 32 marvel | case |
| 31 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 32 marvel | det |
| 32 | marvel | marvel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 29 boast | obl |
| 33 | pertaining | pertain | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 32 marvel | acl |
| 34 | to | to | ADP | _ | 36 church | case |
| 35 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 36 church | nmod:poss |
| 36 | church | church | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 pertaining | obl |
| 37 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 40 professed | punct |
| 38 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 40 professed | cc |
| 39 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 40 professed | nsubj |
| 40 | professed | profess | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 8 man | acl:relcl |
| 41 | utter | utter | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 42 ignorance | amod |
| 42 | ignorance | ignorance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 40 professed | obj |
| 43 | of | of | ADP | _ | 45 existence | case |
| 44 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 existence | det |
| 45 | existence | existence | NOUN | Number=Sing | 42 ignorance | nmod |
| 46 | of | of | ADP | _ | 49 portal | case |
| 47 | any | any | DET | PronType=Ind | 49 portal | det |
| 48 | such | such | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 49 portal | amod |
| 49 | portal | portal | NOUN | Number=Sing | 45 existence | nmod |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 8 man | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | the sacristan | a voluble man | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | is a | to-infinitive | the sacristan not said here | niggard | of man's tongue about any thing | tree rules | |||
| 3 | know | past | nobleman | any thing not said here | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer thing=Stimulus | ||||
| 4 | boast speech: other | to-infinitive | the sacristan not said here | of any marvel | vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent | ||||
| 5 | pertain | gerund | any marvel not said here | to nobleman's church | vn relate-86.2-2 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme to church=Co-Theme | ||||
| 6 | profess | past | nobleman | utter ignorance of the existence of any such portal | vn declare-29.4-1-1-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent ignorance=Theme | ||||
| 7 | ignore | the existence of any such portal | nom ignorance «cognition transitive»: of=patient | ||||||
| 8 | exist | any such portal | nom existence «state intransitive»: of=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 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/pg77685/21/50/