Tanglewood Tales, The Golden Fleece., part 4, sentence 69
"If you doubt, if you are in the least afraid," said the princess, looking him in the face by the dim starlight, "you had better never have been born than to go a step nigher to the bulls."
Who acts: you, princess · What happens: doubt, be, say, look, have, not bear · To what, where: Jason, face, step · Speech: someone speaks here
This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Golden Fleece., part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, princess), 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 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 15 said | punct |
| 2 | If | if | SCONJ | _ | 4 doubt | mark |
| 3 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 4 doubt | nsubj |
| 4 | doubt | doubt | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 15 said | ccomp |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 doubt | punct |
| 6 | if | if | SCONJ | _ | 12 afraid | mark |
| 7 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 12 afraid | nsubj |
| 8 | are | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 12 afraid | cop |
| 9 | in | in | SCONJ | _ | 12 afraid | mark |
| 10 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 12 afraid | det |
| 11 | least | least | ADJ | Degree=Sup | 12 afraid | amod |
| 12 | afraid | afraid | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 15 said | advcl |
| 13 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 12 afraid | punct |
| 14 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 12 afraid | punct |
| 15 | said | say | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 16 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 17 princess | det |
| 17 | princess | princess | NOUN | Number=Sing | 15 said | obj |
| 18 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 19 looking | punct |
| 19 | looking | look | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 15 said | advcl |
| 20 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 19 looking | obj |
| 21 | in | in | ADP | _ | 23 face | case |
| 22 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 23 face | det |
| 23 | face | face | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 looking | obl |
| 24 | by | by | ADP | _ | 27 starlight | case |
| 25 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 27 starlight | det |
| 26 | dim | dim | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 27 starlight | amod |
| 27 | starlight | starlight | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 looking | obl |
| 28 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 31 had | punct |
| 29 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 31 had | punct |
| 30 | you | you | PRON | Case=Nom Person=2 PronType=Prs | 31 had | nsubj |
| 31 | had | have | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=2 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 15 said | conj |
| 32 | better | well | ADV | Degree=Cmp | 36 born | advmod |
| 33 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 36 born | advmod |
| 34 | have | have | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=1 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin | 36 born | aux |
| 35 | been | be | AUX | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part | 36 born | aux:pass |
| 36 | born | bear | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 31 had | advcl |
| 37 | than | than | SCONJ | _ | 39 go | mark |
| 38 | to | to | PART | _ | 39 go | mark |
| 39 | go | go | VERB | VerbForm=Inf | 36 born | advcl |
| 40 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 41 step | det |
| 41 | step | step | NOUN | Number=Sing | 39 go | obj |
| 42 | nigher | nigh | ADJ | Degree=Cmp | 41 step | amod |
| 43 | to | to | ADP | _ | 45 bulls | case |
| 44 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 45 bulls | det |
| 45 | bulls | bull | NOUN | Number=Plur | 42 nigher | obl |
| 46 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 15 said | punct |
| 47 | " | " | PUNCT | _ | 15 said | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | doubt a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present | you | vn judgment-33.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 2 | is a condition, not said to happen, in a quote | present | you | afraid property | tree rules | ||||
| 3 | say speech: assert | past | the princess | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | |||||
| 4 | look | gerund | the princess not said here | Jason | the face | by the dim starlight | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme he=Attribute | ||
| 5 | have in a quote | past | you | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | |||||
| 6 | not bear in a quote | present · perfect · passive | you not said here | well property | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S» | ||||
| 7 | go in a quote | to-infinitive | you not said here | a step | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location step=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: «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Project Gutenberg book 976 (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/pg976/28/69/