--- title: The second blow was not quite so straight, for the snake said to him… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The second blow was not quite so straight, for the snake said to himself, ‘Who is that who is trying to scratch me?’ and stretched out his third head to see; but no sooner was the neck through the hole than the head went rolling to join the rest. Who acts: second blow. A sentence of «The Violet Fair --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/15/151/) [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 Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [The Story of a Gazelle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/15/) / 151 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Story of a Gazelle, sentence 151 The second blow was not quite so straight, for the snake said to himself, ‘Who is that who is trying to scratch me?’ and stretched out his third head to see; but no sooner was the neck through the hole than the head went rolling to join the rest. **Who acts:** second blow · **What happens:** be, scratch, stretch out, see, go, roll · **To what, where:** snake, me, third head, neck, hole, rest This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of a Gazelle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (second 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:pg641:15:151 # text = The second blow was not quite so straight, for the snake said to himself, ‘Who is that who is trying to scratch me?’ and stretched out his third head to see; but no sooner was the neck through the hole than the head went rolling to join the rest. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 2 second second ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 3 amod _ _ 3 blow blow NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 nsubj _ _ 4 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 cop _ _ 5 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 8 advmod _ _ 6 quite quite ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 7 so so ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 8 straight straight ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 10 for for ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 snake snake NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 13 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 acl:relcl _ _ 14 to to ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 15 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 13 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 17 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 18 Who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 23 nsubj _ _ 19 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 cop _ _ 20 that that SCONJ IN _ 23 mark _ _ 21 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 23 nsubj _ _ 22 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 23 aux _ _ 23 trying try VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 3 conj _ _ 24 to to PART TO _ 25 mark _ _ 25 scratch scratch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 xcomp _ _ 26 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 25 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ? ? PUNCT . _ 23 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 23 punct _ _ 29 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 30 stretched stretch VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 23 conj _ _ 31 out out ADP RP _ 30 compound:prt _ _ 32 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 33 third third ADJ JJ Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 34 amod _ _ 34 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obj _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 30 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 ; ; PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 38 but but CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 39 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 40 det _ _ 40 sooner soon ADV RBR Degree=Cmp 43 advmod _ _ 41 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 cop _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 neck neck NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 conj _ _ 44 through through ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 hole hole NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nmod _ _ 47 than than ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 nmod _ _ 50 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 51 rolling roll VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 50 xcomp _ _ 52 to to PART TO _ 53 mark _ _ 53 join join VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 51 xcomp _ _ 54 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 55 rest rest NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 56 . . PUNCT . _ 50 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the second blow but the neck *not said here* | | snake | | | for the snake; say, straight *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **is** | present · progressive | the second blow but the neck | | | | | try *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **scratch** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the second blow but the neck *not said here* | me | | | | | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent i=Theme | | 4 | **stretch out** | participle | the second blow but the neck *not said here* | snake's third head | | | | | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent head=Patient | | 5 | **see** | to-infinitive | the second blow but the neck *not said here* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **is a** | past | the second blow but the neck *not said here* | the neck | | the hole than the head | | soon *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **go** | past | the second blow but the neck | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 8 | **roll** | gerund | the second blow but the neck *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 9 | **join** | to-infinitive | the second blow but the neck *not said here* | the rest | | | | | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rest=Patient | 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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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 150](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/15/150/) - next →: [sentence 152](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/15/152/) - ↑ back to [The Story of a Gazelle](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/15/)