--- title: Both struck hard, but in the end the snake proved the stronger, and… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Both struck hard, but in the end the snake proved the stronger, and would have twisted himself round the neck of the raven till he died had not the king’s son drawn his sword, and cut off the head of the snake at a single blow. Who acts: Both, snake, news, son. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» b --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/28/33/) [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 Lilac Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/) / [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/28/) / 33 # The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 28, sentence 33 Both struck hard, but in the end the snake proved the stronger, and would have twisted himself round the neck of the raven till he died had not the king’s son drawn his sword, and cut off the head of the snake at a single blow. **Who acts:** Both, snake, news, son · **What happens:** strike, prove, twist, die, have, draw · **To what, where:** end, news, neck, son, sword, head This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Both, snake, news, son), 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:pg3454:28:33 # text = Both struck hard, but in the end the snake proved the stronger, and would have twisted himself round the neck of the raven till he died had not the king’s son drawn his sword, and cut off the head of the snake at a single blow. 1 Both both DET DT PronType=Tot 2 nsubj _ _ 2 struck strike VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 3 hard hard ADV RB Degree=Pos 2 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 5 but but CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 6 in in ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 end end NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 snake snake NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj _ _ 11 proved prove VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 stronger strong ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 11 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 16 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 18 aux _ _ 17 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 18 aux _ _ 18 twisted twist VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 11 conj _ _ 19 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 18 obj _ _ 20 round round ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 neck neck NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ _ 23 of of ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 raven raven NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nmod _ _ 26 till till SCONJ IN _ 28 mark _ _ 27 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 28 died die VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 advcl _ _ 29 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 conj _ _ 30 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 34 advmod _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 33 ’s 's PART POS _ 32 case _ _ 34 son son NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obj _ _ 35 drawn draw VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 34 acl _ _ 36 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 37 nmod:poss _ _ 37 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 40 cut cut VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 11 parataxis _ _ 41 off off ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ _ 44 of of ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 snake snake NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nmod _ _ 47 at at ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 48 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 49 single single ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 50 amod _ _ 50 blow blow NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **strike** | participle | Both | | | | | hard *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **prove** | past | the snake | | | | in the end | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **twist** | would · perfect | the snake *not said here* | news | | the neck of the raven | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent himself=Theme round neck=Trajectory | | 4 | **die** | past | news | | | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 5 | **have** | past | news *not said here* | the king's son | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent son=Patient | | 6 | **draw** | participle | the king's son *not said here* | news's sword | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme | | 7 | **cut off** | participle | | the head of the snake | | a single blow | | | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality | 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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/28/32/) - next →: [sentence 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/28/34/) - ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/28/)