The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age, Opening, part 2, sentence 79
But when an hour had passed, and somewhat more, The feasters heard far off a dulcet strain, And soon to them there entered damsels four; With measured step advanced they twain by twain, Bearing a cradle.
Who acts: hour, more · What happens: pass, hear, enter, measure, advance, bear · To what, where: damsels, feasters, cradle
This is a sentence of «The foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Opening, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hour, more), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 6 passed | cc |
| 2 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 6 passed | advmod |
| 3 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 4 hour | det |
| 4 | hour | hour | NOUN | Number=Sing | 6 passed | nsubj |
| 5 | had | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 passed | aux |
| 6 | passed | pass | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | root | root |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 heard | punct |
| 8 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 14 heard | cc |
| 9 | somewhat | somewhat | ADV | _ | 10 more | advmod |
| 10 | more | more | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 14 heard | nsubj |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 heard | punct |
| 12 | The | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 feasters | det |
| 13 | feasters | feaster | NOUN | Number=Plur | 14 heard | nsubj |
| 14 | heard | hear | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 passed | parataxis |
| 15 | far | far | ADV | Degree=Pos | 14 heard | advmod |
| 16 | off | off | ADP | _ | 19 strain | case |
| 17 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 19 strain | det |
| 18 | dulcet | dulcet | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 19 strain | amod |
| 19 | strain | strain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 heard | obl |
| 20 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 entered | punct |
| 21 | And | and | CCONJ | _ | 26 entered | cc |
| 22 | soon | soon | ADV | Degree=Pos | 26 entered | advmod |
| 23 | to | to | ADP | _ | 24 them | case |
| 24 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 26 entered | obl |
| 25 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 26 entered | advmod |
| 26 | entered | enter | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 14 heard | conj |
| 27 | damsels | damsel | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 entered | obj |
| 28 | four | four | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 27 damsels | flat |
| 29 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 33 advanced | punct |
| 30 | With | with | ADP | _ | 32 step | case |
| 31 | measured | measure | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 32 step | amod |
| 32 | step | step | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 advanced | obl |
| 33 | advanced | advance | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 passed | conj |
| 34 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 33 advanced | obj |
| 35 | twain | twain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 advanced | obj |
| 36 | by | by | ADP | _ | 37 twain | case |
| 37 | twain | twain | NOUN | Number=Sing | 33 advanced | obl |
| 38 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 Bearing | punct |
| 39 | Bearing | bear | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 33 advanced | advcl |
| 40 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 41 cradle | det |
| 41 | cradle | cradle | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 Bearing | obj |
| 42 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 passed | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | pass | past · perfect | a hour | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | hear | past | more | off a dulcet strain; the feasters nsubj; far property | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 3 | enter | past | more not said here | damsels | feasters = feaster | there | soon property | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme damsel=Destination | |
| 4 | measure | participle | vn register-54.1-2-1 «NP V NP.value»: agent=Theme | ||||||
| 5 | advance | past | a hour not said here | damsels = damsel | with measured step; by twain | vn future_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent they=Goal twain=Theme | |||
| 6 | bear | gerund | a hour not said here | a cradle | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cradle=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 foray of Queen Meave, and other legends of Ireland's heroic age» by Aubrey De Vere, Project Gutenberg book 78491 (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/pg78491/2/79/