--- title: Quick as thought the princess assumed the form of a serpent and gave… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics description: Quick as thought the princess assumed the form of a serpent and gave battle to the scorpion, who, finding he was getting the worst of it, turned himself into an eagle and took flight. Who acts: princess, scorpion. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10, wi --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/80/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Arabian Nights Entertainments](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/) / [Opening, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/) / 80 # The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 10, sentence 80 Quick as thought the princess assumed the form of a serpent and gave battle to the scorpion, who, finding he was getting the worst of it, turned himself into an eagle and took flight. **Who acts:** princess, scorpion · **What happens:** think, assume, give, find, get, turn · **To what, where:** form, battle, scorpion, flight, serpent · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (princess, scorpion), 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 {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg128:10:80 # text = Quick as thought the princess assumed the form of a serpent and gave battle to the scorpion, who, finding he was getting the worst of it, turned himself into an eagle and took flight. 1 Quick quick ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 2 as as SCONJ IN _ 3 mark _ _ 3 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 1 advcl _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 princess princess NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 6 assumed assume VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 ccomp _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 form form NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ _ 9 of of ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 serpent serpent NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nmod _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 conj _ _ 14 battle battle NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ _ 15 to to ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 scorpion scorpion NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 19 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 21 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 21 finding find VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 17 acl _ _ 22 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 23 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 aux _ _ 24 getting get VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 21 conj _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 worst bad ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 24 xcomp _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 30 turned turn VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 parataxis _ _ 31 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 30 obj _ _ 32 into into ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 eagle eagle NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 conj _ _ 37 flight flight NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 38 . . PUNCT . _ 1 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | | | | | | | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 2 | **assume** | past | the princess | the form of a serpent | | | | | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent form=Theme | | 3 | **give** | past | the princess *not said here* | battle | the scorpion | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent battle=Theme to scorpion=Recipient | | 4 | **find** | gerund | the scorpion | | | | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **get** | past · progressive | scorpion | | | | | bad *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **turn** | past | | scorpion | | | | into a eagle *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent himself=Theme into eagle=Result | | 7 | **take** | past | | flight | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flight=Theme | | 8 | **form** | | | a serpent | | | | | nom form «communication transitive»: of=patient | 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 Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 128 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/79/) - next →: [sentence 81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/81/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg128/10/)