--- title: Of course, if the eagle himself was there to protect them even the l… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Of course, if the eagle himself was there to protect them even the lindworm, big and strong as he was, knew that he could do nothing; but when he was absent, any little eaglets who ventured too near the ground would be sure to disappear down the monster’s throat. Who acts: eagle, little eaglets. A s --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/10/3/) [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 Crimson Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/10/) / 3 # The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 10, sentence 3 Of course, if the eagle himself was there to protect them even the lindworm, big and strong as he was, knew that he could do nothing; but when he was absent, any little eaglets who ventured too near the ground would be sure to disappear down the monster’s throat. **Who acts:** eagle, little eaglets · **What happens:** be, protect, do, venture, disappear down · **To what, where:** wings, nothing, ground, throat · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, 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 (eagle, little eaglets), 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:pg2435:10:3 # text = Of course, if the eagle himself was there to protect them even the lindworm, big and strong as he was, knew that he could do nothing; but when he was absent, any little eaglets who ventured too near the ground would be sure to disappear down the monster’s throat. 1 Of of ADP IN ExtPos=ADV 9 advmod _ _ 2 course course NOUN NN Number=Sing 1 fixed _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 1 punct _ _ 4 if if SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 eagle eagle NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 7 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes 6 nmod:unmarked _ _ 8 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 cop _ _ 9 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 48 advmod _ _ 10 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 11 protect protect VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 advcl _ _ 12 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 obj _ _ 13 even even ADV RB _ 15 advmod _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 lindworm lindworm NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 17 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 strong strong ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 conj _ _ 20 as as SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 21 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 22 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 24 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 advcl _ _ 25 that that SCONJ IN _ 28 mark _ _ 26 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 27 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 28 aux _ _ 28 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 ccomp _ _ 29 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 28 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 ; ; PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 31 but but CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 32 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 35 advmod _ _ 33 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 34 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 cop _ _ 35 absent absent ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 37 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 39 det _ _ 38 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 eaglets eaglet NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 nsubj _ _ 40 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 41 nsubj _ _ 41 ventured venture VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 acl:relcl _ _ 42 too too ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ _ 43 near near ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ _ 46 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 47 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 48 cop _ _ 48 sure sure ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 49 to to PART TO _ 50 mark _ _ 50 disappear disappear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 48 xcomp _ _ 51 down down ADP RP _ 50 compound:prt _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 53 monster monster NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 54 ’s 's PART POS _ 53 case _ _ 55 throat throat NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 56 . . PUNCT . _ 48 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the eagle eagle | | | | | there *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **protect** | to-infinitive | the eagle eagle *not said here* | wings *= wing* | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **is** | past | eagle | | | | | know *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **do** | could | eagle | nothing | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Eventuality | | 5 | **is** | past | eagle | | | | | absent *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **venture** | past | any little eaglets | | | the ground | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **is** | would | any little eaglets | | | | | sure *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **disappear down** | to-infinitive | any little eaglets *not said here* | the monster's throat | | | | | 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:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/10/2/) - next →: [sentence 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/10/4/) - ↑ back to [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/10/)