Celtic Fairy Tales, The Sea-maiden, sentence 83
They were but a short time there when the beast stirred in the midst of the loch; but when the General saw this terror of a beast with three heads, he took fright, and he slunk away, and he hid himself.
Who acts: arms, General, beast · What happens: be, stir, see, take, slink away, hide · To what, where: short time, beast, midst, terror, fright, General
This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Sea-maiden. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (arms, General, beast), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.
Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher. This tree is Mova's own parse (the en model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.
The tree
The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)
| # | word | lemma | UPOS | features | head | relation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | They | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 6 time | nsubj |
| 2 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 time | cop |
| 3 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 6 time | cc |
| 4 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 6 time | det |
| 5 | short | short | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 time | amod |
| 6 | time | time | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 7 | there | there | ADV | PronType=Dem | 6 time | advmod |
| 8 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 34 took | advmod |
| 9 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 10 beast | det |
| 10 | beast | beast | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 took | nsubj |
| 11 | stirred | stir | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 10 beast | acl |
| 12 | in | in | ADP | _ | 14 midst | case |
| 13 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 14 midst | det |
| 14 | midst | midst | NOUN | Number=Sing | 11 stirred | obl |
| 15 | of | of | ADP | _ | 17 loch | case |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 loch | det |
| 17 | loch | loch | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 midst | nmod |
| 18 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 34 took | punct |
| 19 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 34 took | cc |
| 20 | when | when | ADV | PronType=Int | 23 saw | advmod |
| 21 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 22 General | det |
| 22 | General | General | PROPN | Number=Sing | 23 saw | nsubj |
| 23 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 took | advcl |
| 24 | this | this | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 25 terror | det |
| 25 | terror | terror | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 saw | obj |
| 26 | of | of | ADP | _ | 28 beast | case |
| 27 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 28 beast | det |
| 28 | beast | beast | NOUN | Number=Sing | 25 terror | nmod |
| 29 | with | with | ADP | _ | 31 heads | case |
| 30 | three | three | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 31 heads | nummod |
| 31 | heads | head | NOUN | Number=Plur | 23 saw | obl |
| 32 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 23 saw | punct |
| 33 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 34 took | nsubj |
| 34 | took | take | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 6 time | parataxis |
| 35 | fright | fright | NOUN | Number=Sing | 34 took | obj |
| 36 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 39 slunk | punct |
| 37 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 39 slunk | cc |
| 38 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 39 slunk | nsubj |
| 39 | slunk | slink | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 34 took | parataxis |
| 40 | away | away | ADV | _ | 39 slunk | advmod |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 44 hid | punct |
| 42 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 44 hid | cc |
| 43 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 44 hid | nsubj |
| 44 | hid | hide | VERB | Mood=Ind Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 39 slunk | conj |
| 45 | himself | himself | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs Reflex=Yes | 44 hid | obj |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 6 time | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is a | past | arms = arm | a short time | there | tree rules | |||
| 2 | stir | participle | the beast not said here | the midst of the loch | vn modes_of_being_with_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in midst=Location | ||||
| 3 | see | past | the General | this terror of a beast | with three heads | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer terror=Stimulus | |||
| 4 | take | past | the beast | fright | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fright=Theme | ||||
| 5 | slink away | past | General | away property | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | ||||
| 6 | hide | past | General | General | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=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: «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7885 (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/pg7885/21/83/