The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories, The Hero Twins, sentence 82
And she was nearly scared to death when they began to play with the lightning, throwing it around the house as though it had been a harmless ball, while the thunder rumbled till it shook the great rock of Acoma.
Who acts: sister, corn, death, thunder · What happens: be, begin, play, throw, rumble, shake · To what, where: death, house, harmless ball, great rock
This is a sentence of «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, The Hero Twins. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sister, corn, death, thunder), 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 | And | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 scared | cc |
| 2 | she | she | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 5 scared | nsubj |
| 3 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 scared | cop |
| 4 | nearly | nearly | ADV | _ | 5 scared | advmod |
| 5 | scared | scared | ADJ | Degree=Pos | root | root |
| 6 | to | to | ADP | _ | 7 death | case |
| 7 | death | death | NOUN | Number=Sing | 5 scared | obl |
| 8 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 10 began | advmod |
| 9 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 10 began | nsubj |
| 10 | began | begin | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 5 scared | advcl |
| 11 | to | to | PART | _ | 12 play | mark |
| 12 | play | play | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 10 began | xcomp |
| 13 | with | with | ADP | _ | 15 lightning | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 15 lightning | det |
| 15 | lightning | lightning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 12 play | obl |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 17 throwing | punct |
| 17 | throwing | throw | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 12 play | advcl |
| 18 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 17 throwing | obj |
| 19 | around | around | ADP | _ | 21 house | case |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 house | det |
| 21 | house | house | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 throwing | obl |
| 22 | as | as | ADV | _ | 29 ball | advmod |
| 23 | though | though | SCONJ | _ | 29 ball | mark |
| 24 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 29 ball | nsubj |
| 25 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 29 ball | aux |
| 26 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 29 ball | cop |
| 27 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 29 ball | det |
| 28 | harmless | harmless | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 29 ball | amod |
| 29 | ball | ball | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 throwing | obl |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 34 rumbled | punct |
| 31 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 34 rumbled | mark |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 thunder | det |
| 33 | thunder | thunder | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 rumbled | nsubj |
| 34 | rumbled | rumble | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 17 throwing | conj |
| 35 | till | till | SCONJ | _ | 37 shook | mark |
| 36 | it | it | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 shook | nsubj |
| 37 | shook | shake | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 rumbled | advcl |
| 38 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 40 rock | det |
| 39 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 40 rock | amod |
| 40 | rock | rock | NOUN | Number=Sing | 37 shook | obj |
| 41 | of | of | ADP | _ | 42 Acoma | case |
| 42 | Acoma | Acoma | PROPN | Number=Sing | 40 rock | nmod |
| 43 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 5 scared | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | sister | to death; nearly, scared property | tree rules | ||||
| 2 | begin | past | corn | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | |||||
| 3 | play | to-infinitive | corn not said here | with the lightning | vn play-114.2-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent with lightning=Theme | ||||
| 4 | throw | gerund | corn not said here | death | the house | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent it=Theme around house=Destination | |||
| 5 | is a | past · perfect | death | a harmless ball | tree rules | ||||
| 6 | rumble | past | the thunder | vn sound_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 7 | shake | past | thunder | the great rock of Acoma | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent rock=Patient |
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: «The man who married the moon, and other Pueblo Indian folk-stories» by Charles Fletcher Lummis, Project Gutenberg book 77804 (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/pg77804/31/82/