---
title: An enormous python had caught an antelope and coiled itself around i… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: An enormous python had caught an antelope and coiled itself around it; the antelope, striking out in despair with its horns, had pinned the python's neck to a tree, and so deeply had its horns sunk in the soft wood that neither creature could get away. Who acts: horns, creature. A sentence of «The O
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 2, sentence 44

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An enormous python had caught an antelope and coiled itself around it; the antelope, striking out in despair with its horns, had pinned the python's neck to a tree, and so deeply had its horns sunk in the soft wood that neither creature could get away.

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**Who acts:** horns, creature · **What happens:** catch, coil, strike out, pin, have, sink · **To what, where:** enormous python, antelope, python, despair, neck, horns

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, 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 (horns, creature), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3027:2:44
# text = An enormous python had caught an antelope and coiled itself around it; the antelope, striking out in despair with its horns, had pinned the python's neck to a tree, and so deeply had its horns sunk in the soft wood that neither creature could get away.
1	An	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	enormous	enormous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	antelope	antelope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	coiled	coil	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	9	obj	_	_
11	around	around	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	antelope	antelope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	striking	strike	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
18	out	out	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	despair	despair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	horns	horn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	pinned	pin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	parataxis	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	python	python	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	's	's	PART	POS	_	28	case	_	_
30	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
36	so	so	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	deeply	deeply	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
39	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	horns	horn	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obj	_	_
41	sunk	sink	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	38	xcomp	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
44	soft	soft	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	amod	_	_
45	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
46	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	50	obj	_	_
47	neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	48	det	_	_
48	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nsubj	_	_
49	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
50	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	acl:relcl	_	_
51	away	away	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | past · perfect · passive |  | a enormous python |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary antelope=Theme |
| 2 | **coil** | past |  | antelope |  | python |  | the antelope *obl* | vn coil-9.6-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent itself=Theme around it=Destination |
| 3 | **strike out** | gerund |  |  |  | despair with python's horns |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in despair=Location |
| 4 | **pin** | past · perfect |  | the python's neck |  |  |  | to a tree | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent neck=Patient to tree=Co-Patient |
| 5 | **have** | past |  | python's horns |  |  |  | deeply *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **sink** | participle | python's horns *not said here* |  |  | the soft wood |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **get away** | could | neither creature | the soft wood |  |  |  | away *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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