Legends of the Northwest, The Feast of the Virgins., part 6, sentence 7
Low-crouching and shadowy forms, as still as the gray morning's footsteps, Creep sly as the serpent that charms, on her nest in the meadow, the plover; In the shadows of pine-trunks they creep, but their panther-eyes gleam in the fire-light, As they peer on the white men asleep, in the glow of the fire, on their blankets.
Who acts: Low forms, serpent, forms, panther eyes, eyes, fire · What happens: crouch, creep, charm, gleam, peer, shadow · To what, where: shadows, nest, pine trunks, fire light, white men, glow
This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, The Feast of the Virgins., part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Low forms, serpent, forms, panther eyes), 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 | Low | low | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 6 forms | amod |
| 2 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 1 Low | punct |
| 3 | crouching | crouch | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 1 Low | advcl |
| 4 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 5 shadowy | cc |
| 5 | shadowy | shadowy | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 1 Low | conj |
| 6 | forms | form | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 Creep | nsubj |
| 7 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 15 footsteps | punct |
| 8 | as | as | ADV | _ | 9 still | advmod |
| 9 | still | still | ADV | _ | 15 footsteps | advmod |
| 10 | as | as | ADP | _ | 15 footsteps | case |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 13 morning | det |
| 12 | gray | gray | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 13 morning | amod |
| 13 | morning | morning | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 footsteps | nmod:poss |
| 14 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 13 morning | case |
| 15 | footsteps | footstep | NOUN | Number=Plur | 6 forms | conj |
| 16 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 6 forms | punct |
| 17 | Creep | creep | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 18 | sly | sly | ADV | _ | 17 Creep | advmod |
| 19 | as | as | ADP | _ | 21 serpent | case |
| 20 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 21 serpent | det |
| 21 | serpent | serpent | NOUN | Number=Sing | 17 Creep | obl |
| 22 | that | that | PRON | PronType=Rel | 23 charms | nsubj |
| 23 | charms | charm | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 21 serpent | acl:relcl |
| 24 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 27 nest | punct |
| 25 | on | on | ADP | _ | 27 nest | case |
| 26 | her | her | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Fem Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 27 nest | nmod:poss |
| 27 | nest | nest | NOUN | Number=Sing | 23 charms | obl |
| 28 | in | in | ADP | _ | 30 meadow | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 meadow | det |
| 30 | meadow | meadow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 nest | nmod |
| 31 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 plover | punct |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 plover | det |
| 33 | plover | plover | NOUN | Number=Sing | 30 meadow | conj |
| 34 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 37 shadows | punct |
| 35 | In | in | ADP | _ | 37 shadows | case |
| 36 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 37 shadows | det |
| 37 | shadows | shadow | NOUN | Number=Plur | 17 Creep | obl |
| 38 | of | of | ADP | _ | 41 trunks | case |
| 39 | pine | pine | NOUN | Number=Sing | 41 trunks | compound |
| 40 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 39 pine | punct |
| 41 | trunks | trunk | NOUN | Number=Plur | 37 shadows | nmod |
| 42 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 43 creep | nsubj |
| 43 | creep | creep | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 41 trunks | acl:relcl |
| 44 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 50 gleam | punct |
| 45 | but | but | CCONJ | _ | 50 gleam | cc |
| 46 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 49 eyes | nmod:poss |
| 47 | panther | panther | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 eyes | compound |
| 48 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 47 panther | punct |
| 49 | eyes | eye | NOUN | Number=Plur | 50 gleam | nsubj |
| 50 | gleam | gleam | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 17 Creep | parataxis |
| 51 | in | in | ADP | _ | 55 light | case |
| 52 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 55 light | det |
| 53 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 55 light | compound |
| 54 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 53 fire | punct |
| 55 | light | light | NOUN | Number=Sing | 50 gleam | obl |
| 56 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 59 peer | punct |
| 57 | As | as | SCONJ | _ | 59 peer | mark |
| 58 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 59 peer | nsubj |
| 59 | peer | peer | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 50 gleam | conj |
| 60 | on | on | ADP | _ | 63 men | case |
| 61 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 63 men | det |
| 62 | white | white | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 63 men | amod |
| 63 | men | man | NOUN | Number=Plur | 59 peer | obj |
| 64 | asleep | asleep | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 63 men | amod |
| 65 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 68 glow | punct |
| 66 | in | in | ADP | _ | 68 glow | case |
| 67 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 68 glow | det |
| 68 | glow | glow | NOUN | Number=Sing | 59 peer | obl |
| 69 | of | of | ADP | _ | 71 fire | case |
| 70 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 71 fire | det |
| 71 | fire | fire | NOUN | Number=Sing | 68 glow | nmod |
| 72 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 75 blankets | punct |
| 73 | on | on | ADP | _ | 75 blankets | case |
| 74 | their | their | PRON | Case=Gen Number=Plur Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 75 blankets | nmod:poss |
| 75 | blankets | blanket | NOUN | Number=Plur | 59 peer | obl |
| 76 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 17 Creep | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | crouch | gerund | Low forms and the gray morning's footsteps not said here | vn spatial_configuration-47.6 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 2 | creep | present | Low forms and the gray morning's footsteps | the shadows of pine trunks | as the serpent; sly property | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in shadow=Trajectory | |||
| 3 | charm | present | the serpent | blaze's nest in the meadow and the plover | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | ||||
| 4 | creep | present | forms = form | pine trunks not said here | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial_Location trunk=Theme | ||||
| 5 | gleam | present | forms's panther eyes | the fire light | vn light_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in light=Location | ||||
| 6 | peer | present | eyes = eye | the white men | the glow of the fire | on forms's blankets | tree rules | ||
| 7 | shadow | pine trunks | nom shadow «state transitive»: of=patient | ||||||
| 8 | glow | the fire | nom glow «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 Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, Project Gutenberg book 8122 (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/pg8122/13/7/