--- title: But the Prince, who was sorry for the poor bird, seized the branch o… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But the Prince, who was sorry for the poor bird, seized the branch of a tree and hit out at the ravens with it; terrified at this unexpected onslaught they flew away, leaving many of their number dead or wounded on the battlefield. Who acts: Prince, ravens. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by A --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/31/68/) [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 Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Witch and Her Servants(22), part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/31/) / 68 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch and Her Servants(22), part 2, sentence 68 But the Prince, who was sorry for the poor bird, seized the branch of a tree and hit out at the ravens with it; terrified at this unexpected onslaught they flew away, leaving many of their number dead or wounded on the battlefield. **Who acts:** Prince, ravens · **What happens:** be, seize, hit out, fly away, leave, wound · **To what, where:** branch, unexpected onslaught, many, battlefield This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch and Her Servants(22), 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 (Prince, ravens), 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:pg640:31:68 # text = But the Prince, who was sorry for the poor bird, seized the branch of a tree and hit out at the ravens with it; terrified at this unexpected onslaught they flew away, leaving many of their number dead or wounded on the battlefield. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 Prince Prince PROPN NNP Number=Sing 13 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 5 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 7 nsubj _ _ 6 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 cop _ _ 7 sorry sorry ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 conj _ _ 8 for for ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 13 seized seize VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 branch branch NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 nmod _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 20 hit hit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 conj _ _ 21 out out ADP RP _ 20 compound:prt _ _ 22 at at ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 ravens raven NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 obl _ _ 25 with with ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 26 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ; ; PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 28 terrified terrified ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 13 conj _ _ 29 at at ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 30 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 32 det _ _ 31 unexpected unexpected ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 amod _ _ 32 onslaught onslaught NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obl _ _ 33 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 flew fly VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 acl:relcl _ _ 35 away away ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 37 leaving leave VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 28 advcl _ _ 38 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 37 obj _ _ 39 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 number number NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nmod _ _ 42 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 amod _ _ 43 or or CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 44 wounded wound VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 42 conj _ _ 45 on on ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 46 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 battlefield battlefield NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 13 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the Prince | | | | | for the poor bird; sorry *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **seize** | past | the Prince | the branch of a tree | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent branch=Theme | | 3 | **hit out** | past | the Prince *not said here* | | | | | with number; at the ravens | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP PP»: agent=Agent at raven=Patient with it=Instrument | | 4 | **fly away** | past | ravens *= raven* | this unexpected onslaught *not said here* | | | | away *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location onslaught=Theme | | 5 | **leave** | gerund | the Prince *not said here* | many of ravens's number | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent many=Theme | | 6 | **wound** | participle | the Prince *not said here* | | | the battlefield | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | 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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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 67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/31/67/) - next →: [sentence 69](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/31/69/) - ↑ back to [The Witch and Her Servants(22), part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/31/)