--- title: It drew in its breath and would have sucked the prince into its maw,… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: It drew in its breath and would have sucked the prince into its maw, but when he was within striking distance he drew his sword and, having committed himself to God, struck a mighty blow which cut the creature’s neck down to the gullet. Who acts: dragon, prince, striking distance, mighty blow. A sen --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/4/76/) [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 Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/4/) / 76 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 4, sentence 76 It drew in its breath and would have sucked the prince into its maw, but when he was within striking distance he drew his sword and, having committed himself to God, struck a mighty blow which cut the creature’s neck down to the gullet. **Who acts:** dragon, prince, striking distance, mighty blow · **What happens:** draw, suck, strike, have, cut · **To what, where:** breath, prince, maw, sword, God, mighty blow This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dragon, prince, striking distance, mighty blow), 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:pg3282:4:76 # text = It drew in its breath and would have sucked the prince into its maw, but when he was within striking distance he drew his sword and, having committed himself to God, struck a mighty blow which cut the creature’s neck down to the gullet. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 drew draw VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 in in ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 5 nmod:poss _ _ 5 breath breath NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 7 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 8 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 9 aux _ _ 9 sucked suck VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 2 conj _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 prince prince NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 12 into into ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 maw maw NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 16 but but CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 17 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 21 advmod _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 19 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 20 within within ADP IN _ 21 mark _ _ 21 striking strike VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 22 amod _ _ 22 distance distance NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nsubj _ _ 23 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 drew draw VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 26 nmod:poss _ _ 26 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obj _ _ 27 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 29 having have VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 24 conj _ _ 30 committed committed ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 xcomp _ _ 31 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 30 obl _ _ 32 to to ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 God God PROPN NNP Number=Sing 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 35 struck strike VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 36 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 37 mighty mighty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 blow blow NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ _ 39 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 40 nsubj _ _ 40 cut cut VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 acl:relcl _ _ 41 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 creature creature NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 43 ’s 's PART POS _ 42 case _ _ 44 neck neck NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ _ 45 down down ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 46 to to ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 gullet gullet NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **draw** | past | dragon | | | dragon's breath | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in breath=Destination | | 2 | **suck** | would · perfect | dragon *not said here* | the prince | | dragon's maw | | | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent prince=Source | | 3 | **strike** | past · progressive | prince | | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location | | 4 | **draw** | past | striking distance | prince's sword | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme | | 5 | **have** | gerund | striking distance *not said here* | | God | | | committed *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **strike** | past | dragon *not said here* | a mighty blow | | | | | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blow=Patient | | 7 | **cut** | past | a mighty blow | the creature's neck | | | | down *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset neck=Product | 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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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 75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/4/75/) - next →: [sentence 77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/4/77/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/4/)