---
title: Instantly the Serpent uncoiled itself from his neck, and, as it touc… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Instantly the Serpent uncoiled itself from his neck, and, as it touched the damp earth, it resumed the shape of the lovely damsel. Who acts: Serpent. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Magic Ring, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Magic Ring, sentence 59

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Instantly the Serpent uncoiled itself from his neck, and, as it touched the damp earth, it resumed the shape of the lovely damsel.

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**Who acts:** Serpent · **What happens:** uncoil, touch, resume · **To what, where:** Serpent, damp earth, shape

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Magic Ring. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Serpent), 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:pg640:33:59
# text = Instantly the Serpent uncoiled itself from his neck, and, as it touched the damp earth, it resumed the shape of the lovely damsel.
1	Instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	Serpent	Serpent	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	uncoiled	uncoil	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	4	obj	_	_
6	from	from	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	damp	damp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	resumed	resume	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	lovely	lovely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	damsel	damsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **uncoil** | past | the Serpent | Serpent |  |  |  | from rock's neck; instantly *property* | vn separate-23.1 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent itself=Patient from neck=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **touch** | past | Serpent | the damp earth |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme earth=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **resume** | past | Serpent | the shape of the lovely damsel |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shape=Eventuality |

<!-- .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 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.

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