Tanglewood Tales, The Minotaur., part 4, sentence 79
Talus, the brazen giant, on his never-ceasing sentinel's march, happened to be approaching that part of the coast; and they saw him, by the glimmering of the moonbeams on his polished surface, while he was yet a great way off.
Who acts: Talus, people · What happens: not cease, happen, approach, see, polish, be · To what, where: part, great way
This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Minotaur., 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 (Talus, people), 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 | Talus | Talus | PROPN | Number=Sing | 16 happened | nsubj |
| 2 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 5 giant | punct |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 5 giant | det |
| 4 | brazen | brazen | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 5 giant | amod |
| 5 | giant | giant | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Talus | appos |
| 6 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 14 march | punct |
| 7 | on | on | ADP | _ | 14 march | case |
| 8 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 12 sentinel | nmod:poss |
| 9 | never | never | ADV | PronType=Neg | 11 ceasing | advmod |
| 10 | - | - | PUNCT | _ | 9 never | punct |
| 11 | ceasing | cease | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 12 sentinel | amod |
| 12 | sentinel | sentinel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 14 march | nmod:poss |
| 13 | 's | 's | PART | _ | 12 sentinel | case |
| 14 | march | march | NOUN | Number=Sing | 1 Talus | appos |
| 15 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 1 Talus | punct |
| 16 | happened | happen | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | root | root |
| 17 | to | to | PART | _ | 19 approaching | mark |
| 18 | be | be | AUX | VerbForm=Inf | 19 approaching | aux |
| 19 | approaching | approach | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 16 happened | advcl |
| 20 | that | that | DET | Number=Sing PronType=Dem | 21 part | det |
| 21 | part | part | NOUN | Number=Sing | 19 approaching | obj |
| 22 | of | of | ADP | _ | 24 coast | case |
| 23 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 24 coast | det |
| 24 | coast | coast | NOUN | Number=Sing | 21 part | nmod |
| 25 | ; | ; | PUNCT | _ | 28 saw | punct |
| 26 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 28 saw | cc |
| 27 | they | they | PRON | Case=Nom Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 saw | nsubj |
| 28 | saw | see | VERB | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 happened | parataxis |
| 29 | him | he | PRON | Case=Acc Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 28 saw | obj |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 33 glimmering | punct |
| 31 | by | by | ADP | _ | 33 glimmering | case |
| 32 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 33 glimmering | det |
| 33 | glimmering | glimmering | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 saw | obl |
| 34 | of | of | ADP | _ | 36 moonbeams | case |
| 35 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 36 moonbeams | det |
| 36 | moonbeams | moonbeam | NOUN | Number=Plur | 33 glimmering | nmod |
| 37 | on | on | ADP | _ | 40 surface | case |
| 38 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 40 surface | nmod:poss |
| 39 | polished | polish | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 40 surface | amod |
| 40 | surface | surface | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 moonbeams | nmod |
| 41 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 48 way | punct |
| 42 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 48 way | mark |
| 43 | he | he | PRON | Case=Nom Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs | 48 way | nsubj |
| 44 | was | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 48 way | cop |
| 45 | yet | yet | CCONJ | _ | 48 way | cc |
| 46 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 48 way | det |
| 47 | great | great | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 48 way | amod |
| 48 | way | way | NOUN | Number=Sing | 28 saw | parataxis |
| 49 | off | off | ADV | _ | 48 way | advmod |
| 50 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 16 happened | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | not cease | gerund | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | ||||||
| 2 | happen | past | Talus | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | |||||
| 3 | approach | to-infinitive · progressive | Talus not said here | that part of the coast | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent part=Theme | ||||
| 4 | see | past | people | part | by the glimmering of the moonbeams on Talus's polished surface | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus | |||
| 5 | polish | participle | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP.destination»: agent=Agent | ||||||
| 6 | is a | past | Talus | a great way | off property | tree rules |
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/pg976/6/79/