Tanglewood Tales, The Pygmies., part 2, sentence 95

What a spectacle it must have been, to see this monstrous fellow sprawling in the air, face downwards, kicking out his long legs and wriggling his whole vast body, like a baby when its father holds it at arm's length towards the ceiling.

Who acts: spectacle, monstrous fellow, father · What happens: be, see, sprawl, kick out, wriggle, hold · To what, where: spectacle, monstrous fellow, air, long legs, whole vast body, length

This is a sentence of «Tanglewood Tales» by Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Pygmies., part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (spectacle, monstrous fellow, father), 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	What	what	DET	PronType=Int	3 spectacle	det:predet
2	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	3 spectacle	det
3	spectacle	spectacle	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 been	obl
4	it	it	PRON	Case=Nom Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	7 been	nsubj
5	must	must	AUX	VerbForm=Fin	7 been	aux
6	have	have	AUX	VerbForm=Inf	7 been	aux
7	been	be	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part	root	root
8	,	,	PUNCT	_	10 see	punct
9	to	to	PART	_	10 see	mark
10	see	see	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	7 been	parataxis
11	this	this	DET	Number=Sing PronType=Dem	13 fellow	det
12	monstrous	monstrous	ADJ	Degree=Pos	13 fellow	amod
13	fellow	fellow	NOUN	Number=Sing	10 see	obj
14	sprawling	sprawl	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	13 fellow	acl
15	in	in	ADP	_	17 air	case
16	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	17 air	det
17	air	air	NOUN	Number=Sing	14 sprawling	obl
18	,	,	PUNCT	_	19 face	punct
19	face	face	NOUN	Number=Sing	13 fellow	conj
20	downwards	downwards	ADV	_	10 see	advmod
21	,	,	PUNCT	_	22 kicking	punct
22	kicking	kick	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	10 see	advcl
23	out	out	ADP	_	22 kicking	compound:prt
24	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	26 legs	nmod:poss
25	long	long	ADJ	Degree=Pos	26 legs	amod
26	legs	leg	NOUN	Number=Plur	22 kicking	obj
27	and	and	CCONJ	_	28 wriggling	cc
28	wriggling	wriggle	VERB	Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part	22 kicking	conj
29	his	his	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	32 body	nmod:poss
30	whole	whole	ADJ	Degree=Pos	32 body	amod
31	vast	vast	ADJ	Degree=Pos	32 body	amod
32	body	body	NOUN	Number=Sing	28 wriggling	obj
33	,	,	PUNCT	_	36 baby	punct
34	like	like	ADP	_	36 baby	case
35	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	36 baby	det
36	baby	baby	NOUN	Number=Sing	28 wriggling	obl
37	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	40 holds	advmod
38	its	its	PRON	Case=Gen Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs	39 father	nmod:poss
39	father	father	NOUN	Number=Sing	40 holds	nsubj
40	holds	hold	VERB	Mood=Ind Number=Sing Person=3 Tense=Pres VerbForm=Fin	36 baby	acl:relcl
41	it	it	PRON	Case=Acc Gender=Neut Number=Sing Person=3 PronType=Prs	40 holds	obj
42	at	at	ADP	_	45 length	case
43	arm	arm	NOUN	Number=Sing	45 length	nmod:poss
44	's	's	PART	_	43 arm	case
45	length	length	NOUN	Number=Sing	40 holds	obl
46	towards	towards	ADP	_	48 ceiling	case
47	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	48 ceiling	det
48	ceiling	ceiling	NOUN	Number=Sing	45 length	nmod
49	.	.	PUNCT	_	7 been	punct

Pragmatics

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	where	other	roles by
1	be	must · perfect	spectacle	what spectacle			vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme
2	see	to-infinitive		this monstrous fellow and face		downwards property	vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer fellow=Stimulus
3	sprawl	gerund	this monstrous fellow and face not said here		the air		vn assuming_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in air=Location
4	kick out	gerund		fellow's long legs			vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent leg=Patient
5	wriggle	gerund		fellow's whole vast body		like a baby	tree rules
6	hold	present	spectacle's father	spectacle	arm's length towards the ceiling		vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent it=Theme at length=Location

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/pg976/8/95/