---
title: But the eagle, with one foot gripping the rock, struck fiercely at h… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics
description: But the eagle, with one foot gripping the rock, struck fiercely at her foe; with her iron beak she tore the scales from the fish’s back, she forced him to retreat into the murky deep. Who acts: one foot, eagle, hero. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Gre
---

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# The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Great Pike, sentence 89

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But the eagle, with one foot gripping the rock, struck fiercely at her foe; with her iron beak she tore the scales from the fish’s back, she forced him to retreat into the murky deep.

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**Who acts:** one foot, eagle, hero · **What happens:** grip, strike, tore, force, retreat · **To what, where:** rock, scales, hero, murky deep

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This is a sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, The Great Pike. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one foot, eagle, hero), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg66819:25:89
# text = But the eagle, with one foot gripping the rock, struck fiercely at her foe; with her iron beak she tore the scales from the fish’s back, she forced him to retreat into the murky deep.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	appos	_	_
8	gripping	grip	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	7	acl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
12	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	fiercely	fiercely	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	foe	foe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	beak	beak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
22	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	tore	tore	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	scales	scale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
26	from	from	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
30	back	back	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	forced	force	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	retreat	retreat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
37	into	into	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	murky	murky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grip** | gerund | one foot *not said here* | the rock |  |  |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rock=Experiencer |
| 2 | **strike** | past | the eagle |  |  |  |  | at eagle's foe; fiercely *property* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at foe=Patient |
| 3 | **tore** | past | eagle | the scales |  |  |  | with eagle's iron beak | tree rules |
| 4 | **force** | past | eagle | hero |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **retreat** | to-infinitive | hero *not said here* |  |  | the murky deep |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into deep=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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 Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 66819 (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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