The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 76
But while the snakes, not suspicious of a ruse, were in the very act of taking the drink of immortality, Indra, king of the gods, suddenly swooped down, and confounding them with his mighty prowess, carried off the vessel containing the drink of immortality.
Who acts: snakes, act, mighty prowess, vessel · What happens: be, take, swoop down, confound, carry off, contain · To what, where: act, drink, gods, snakes, vessel
This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (snakes, act, mighty prowess, vessel), 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 | But | but | CCONJ | _ | 16 act | cc |
| 2 | while | while | SCONJ | _ | 4 snakes | mark |
| 3 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 4 snakes | det |
| 4 | snakes | snake | NOUN | Number=Plur | 16 act | nsubj |
| 5 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 7 suspicious | punct |
| 6 | not | not | PART | Polarity=Neg | 7 suspicious | advmod |
| 7 | suspicious | suspicious | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 4 snakes | amod |
| 8 | of | of | ADP | _ | 10 ruse | case |
| 9 | a | a | DET | Definite=Ind PronType=Art | 10 ruse | det |
| 10 | ruse | ruse | NOUN | Number=Sing | 7 suspicious | obl |
| 11 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 4 snakes | punct |
| 12 | were | be | AUX | Mood=Ind Number=Plur Person=3 Tense=Past VerbForm=Fin | 16 act | cop |
| 13 | in | in | ADP | _ | 16 act | case |
| 14 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 16 act | det |
| 15 | very | very | ADV | _ | 16 act | advmod |
| 16 | act | act | NOUN | Number=Sing | root | root |
| 17 | of | of | SCONJ | _ | 18 taking | mark |
| 18 | taking | take | VERB | Tense=Pres VerbForm=Part | 16 act | advcl |
| 19 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 20 drink | det |
| 20 | drink | drink | NOUN | Number=Sing | 18 taking | obj |
| 21 | of | of | ADP | _ | 22 immortality | case |
| 22 | immortality | immortality | NOUN | Number=Sing | 20 drink | nmod |
| 23 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 24 Indra | punct |
| 24 | Indra | Indra | PROPN | Number=Sing | 18 taking | obl |
| 25 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 26 king | punct |
| 26 | king | king | NOUN | Number=Sing | 16 act | appos |
| 27 | of | of | ADP | _ | 29 gods | case |
| 28 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 29 gods | det |
| 29 | gods | god | NOUN | Number=Plur | 26 king | nmod |
| 30 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 32 swooped | punct |
| 31 | suddenly | suddenly | ADV | _ | 32 swooped | advmod |
| 32 | swooped | swoop | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 29 gods | acl |
| 33 | down | down | ADP | _ | 32 swooped | compound:prt |
| 34 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 36 confounding | punct |
| 35 | and | and | CCONJ | _ | 36 confounding | cc |
| 36 | confounding | confound | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 16 act | acl |
| 37 | them | they | PRON | Case=Acc Number=Plur Person=3 PronType=Prs | 36 confounding | obj |
| 38 | with | with | ADP | _ | 41 prowess | case |
| 39 | his | his | PRON | Case=Gen Gender=Masc Number=Sing Person=3 Poss=Yes PronType=Prs | 41 prowess | nmod:poss |
| 40 | mighty | mighty | ADJ | Degree=Pos | 41 prowess | amod |
| 41 | prowess | prowess | NOUN | Number=Sing | 36 confounding | obl |
| 42 | , | , | PUNCT | _ | 43 carried | punct |
| 43 | carried | carry | VERB | Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass | 41 prowess | acl |
| 44 | off | off | ADP | _ | 46 vessel | case |
| 45 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 46 vessel | det |
| 46 | vessel | vessel | NOUN | Number=Sing | 43 carried | obl |
| 47 | containing | contain | VERB | VerbForm=Ger | 46 vessel | acl |
| 48 | the | the | DET | Definite=Def PronType=Art | 49 drink | det |
| 49 | drink | drink | NOUN | Number=Sing | 47 containing | obj |
| 50 | of | of | ADP | _ | 51 immortality | case |
| 51 | immortality | immortality | NOUN | Number=Sing | 49 drink | nmod |
| 52 | . | . | PUNCT | _ | 16 act | punct |
Pragmatics
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | is | past | the snakes | the act | king of the gods appos | tree rules | |||
| 2 | take | gerund | the snakes not said here | the drink of immortality | Indra obl | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent drink=Theme | |||
| 3 | swoop down | participle | the gods not said here | suddenly property | tree rules | ||||
| 4 | confound | gerund | the act not said here | snakes = snake | with king's mighty prowess | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer | |||
| 5 | carry off | participle | king's mighty prowess not said here | the vessel | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vessel=Theme | ||||
| 6 | contain | gerund | the vessel not said here | the drink of immortality | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot drink=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: «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Project Gutenberg book 74064 (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/pg74064/16/76/