---
title: So swiftly it came that it had seized one of my comrades before he h… — The Arabian Nights Entertainments · tree and pragmatics
description: So swiftly it came that it had seized one of my comrades before he had time to fly, and in spite of his cries and struggles speedily crushed the life out of him in its mighty coils and proceeded to swallow him. Who acts: hunger, snake. A sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang
---

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# The Arabian Nights Entertainments, Opening, part 15, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So swiftly it came that it had seized one of my comrades before he had time to fly, and in spite of his cries and struggles speedily crushed the life out of him in its mighty coils and proceeded to swallow him.

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**Who acts:** hunger, snake · **What happens:** come, seize, have, fly, crush, proceed · **To what, where:** hunger, life, spite, snake, cries

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Arabian Nights Entertainments» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hunger, snake), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg128:15:38
# text = So swiftly it came that it had seized one of my comrades before he had time to fly, and in spite of his cries and struggles speedily crushed the life out of him in its mighty coils and proceeded to swallow him.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	swiftly	swiftly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	seized	seize	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
9	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	obj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	comrades	comrade	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
13	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
16	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	cries	cry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	struggles	struggle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	conj	_	_
28	speedily	speedily	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	crushed	crush	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
32	out	out	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
37	mighty	mighty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	coils	coil	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	proceeded	proceed	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	swallow	swallow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	xcomp	_	_
43	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | hunger |  |  |  |  | swiftly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **seize** | past · perfect · passive |  | hunger |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past | snake |  |  |  | time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **fly** | to-infinitive | snake *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **crush** | past | hunger *not said here* | the life |  | spite of snake's cries and struggles |  | out snake; in hunger's mighty coils; speedily *property* | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Patient |
| 6 | **proceed** | past | hunger *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **swallow** | to-infinitive | hunger *not said here* | snake |  |  |  |  | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 8 | **spite** |  |  | snake's cries and struggles |  |  |  |  | nom spite «feeling transitive»: of=patient |
| 9 | **cry** |  | snake |  |  |  |  |  | nom cry «communication intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .note -->
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.

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**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.

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