--- title: She struck with her scythe-like talons; she seized him midway behind… — The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North · tree and pragmatics description: She struck with her scythe-like talons; she seized him midway behind his gills; with a mighty effort she drew him from the water and bore him, struggling, helpless, dying, to the topmost branch of a wide-spreading oak. Who acts: bird. A sentence of «The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North» by Jame --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/25/92/) [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 Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old No…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/) / [The Great Pike](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/25/) / 92 # The Sampo: A Wonder Tale of the Old North, The Great Pike, sentence 92 She struck with her scythe-like talons; she seized him midway behind his gills; with a mighty effort she drew him from the water and bore him, struggling, helpless, dying, to the topmost branch of a wide-spreading oak. **Who acts:** bird · **What happens:** strike, seize, draw, bear, struggle, die · **To what, where:** Iron, gills, water 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 (bird), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong. ## The tree {#tree} ```conllu # sent_id = book:pg66819:25:92 # text = She struck with her scythe-like talons; she seized him midway behind his gills; with a mighty effort she drew him from the water and bore him, struggling, helpless, dying, to the topmost branch of a wide-spreading oak. 1 She she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 struck strike VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 with with ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 4 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 5 scythe scythe NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 6 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 5 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 like like ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 talons talon NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 ; ; PUNCT : _ 11 punct _ _ 10 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 seized seize VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 12 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 obj _ _ 13 midway midway NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 14 behind behind ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 16 nmod:poss _ _ 16 gills gill NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ; ; PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 18 with with ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 19 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 20 mighty mighty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 effort effort NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ _ 22 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 23 drew draw VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 24 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 obj _ _ 25 from from ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 29 bore bear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 30 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 32 struggling struggle VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 29 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 34 helpless helpless ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 32 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 36 dying die VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 32 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 38 to to ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 40 topmost topmost ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 amod _ _ 41 branch branch NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ _ 42 of of ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 43 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 44 wide wide ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 46 spreading spread VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 47 amod _ _ 47 oak oak NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **strike** | past | bird | | | | | with bird's like talons | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with talon=Theme | | 2 | **seize** | past | bird | Iron | | Iron's gills | | midway *obj* | tree rules | | 3 | **draw** | past | bird | Iron | | the water | | with a mighty effort | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent he=Theme from water=Initial\_Location | | 4 | **bear** | past | bird *not said here* | Iron | | | | to the topmost branch of a spreading oak | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient | | 5 | **struggle** | gerund | bird *not said here* | | | | | | vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **die** | gerund | bird *not said here* | | | | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 7 | **spread** | gerund | | | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 91](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/25/91/) - next →: [sentence 93](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/25/93/) - ↑ back to [The Great Pike](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg66819/25/)