---
title: Then the eagle pounced upon the bird, and the moment she seized him… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the eagle pounced upon the bird, and the moment she seized him in her talons she tore the ring from his neck before the man in bird’s shape had time to prevent her. Who acts: eagle, moment, man. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon of the North(2), with its dependenc
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Dragon of the North(2), sentence 176

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the eagle pounced upon the bird, and the moment she seized him in her talons she tore the ring from his neck before the man in bird’s shape had time to prevent her.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** eagle, moment, man · **What happens:** pounce, seize, tore, have, prevent · **To what, where:** air, talons, ring, neck, eagle

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon of the North(2). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eagle, moment, man), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg640:5:176
# text = Then the eagle pounced upon the bird, and the moment she seized him in her talons she tore the ring from his neck before the man in bird’s shape had time to prevent her.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	pounced	pounce	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	talons	talon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	tore	tore	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
25	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	’s	's	PART	POS	_	29	case	_	_
31	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
32	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
33	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	prevent	prevent	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	acl	_	_
36	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pounce** | past | the eagle |  |  |  | then | upon the bird | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon bird=Trajectory |
| 2 | **seize** | past | eagle | air |  | eagle's talons |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **tore** | past | the moment | the ring |  | air's neck |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | the man in bird's shape |  |  |  | time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **prevent** | to-infinitive | the man in bird's shape *not said here* | eagle |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer she=Theme |

<!-- .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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