Legends of the Northwest, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3, sentence 143
About twenty feet from the entrance begins a lake, the water of which is transparent, and extends to an unsearchable distance; for the darkness of the cave prevents all attempts to acquire a knowledge of it.
What happens: begin, be, extend, prevent, acquire · To what, where: twenty feet, entrance, unsearchable distance, attempts, knowledge
This is a sentence of «Legends of the Northwest» by Hanford Lennox Gordon, In the Measure of Hiawatha, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: 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 | About | about | ADV | _ | 2 twenty | advmod |
| 2 | twenty | twenty | NUM | NumForm=Word NumType=Card | 3 feet | nummod |
| 3 | feet | foot | NOUN | Number=Plur | 7 begins | obl |
| 4 | from | from | ADP | _ | 6 entrance | case |
| 5 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 6 entrance | det |
| 6 | entrance | entrance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 begins | obl |
| 7 | begins | begin | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 8 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 9 lake | det |
| 9 | lake | lake | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 begins | obj |
| 10 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 water | punct |
| 11 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 water | det |
| 12 | water | water | NOUN | Number=Sing | 9 lake | appos |
| 13 | of | of | ADP | _ | 14 which | case |
| 14 | which | which | PRON | PronType=Rel | 16 transparent | obl |
| 15 | is | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 16 transparent | cop |
| 16 | transparent | transparent | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 12 water | acl:relcl |
| 17 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 extends | punct |
| 18 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 19 extends | cc |
| 19 | extends | extend | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 begins | conj |
| 20 | to | to | ADP | _ | 23 distance | case |
| 21 | an | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 23 distance | det |
| 22 | unsearchable | unsearchable | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 23 distance | amod |
| 23 | distance | distance | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 extends | obl |
| 24 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 31 prevents | punct |
| 25 | for | for | ADP | _ | 27 darkness | case |
| 26 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 darkness | det |
| 27 | darkness | darkness | NOUN | Number=Sing | 31 prevents | obl |
| 28 | of | of | ADP | _ | 30 cave | case |
| 29 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 30 cave | det |
| 30 | cave | cave | NOUN | Number=Sing | 27 darkness | nmod |
| 31 | prevents | prevent | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 7 begins | conj |
| 32 | all | all | DET | PronType=Tot | 33 attempts | det |
| 33 | attempts | attempt | NOUN | Number=Plur | 31 prevents | obj |
| 34 | to | to | PART | _ | 35 acquire | mark |
| 35 | acquire | acquire | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 31 prevents | advcl |
| 36 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 37 knowledge | det |
| 37 | knowledge | knowledge | NOUN | Number=Sing | 35 acquire | obj |
| 38 | of | of | ADP | _ | 39 it | case |
| 39 | it | it | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 37 knowledge | nmod |
| 40 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 7 begins | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | begin | present | twenty feet | the entrance | a lake obj | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lake=Eventuality | |||
| 2 | is | present | of the water; transparent property | tree rules | |||||
| 3 | extend | present | a unsearchable distance | vn contribute-13.2-2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to distance=Recipient | |||||
| 4 | prevent | present | all attempts | for the darkness of the cave | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer attempt=Theme | ||||
| 5 | acquire | to-infinitive | a knowledge of entrance | vn obtain-13.5.2-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset knowledge=Theme |
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/pg8122/20/143/