---
title: The sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fa… — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast; and at last they were all scattered over the plain. Who acts: sepoys, horse. A sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 17, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# Indian Fairy Tales, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 17, sentence 65

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast; and at last they were all scattered over the plain.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sepoys, horse · **What happens:** try, shoot, gallop, scatter · **To what, where:** vain, horse, sepoys, last

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sepoys, horse), 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:pg7128:23:65
# text = The sepoys tried in vain to shoot the horse; he galloped much too fast; and at last they were all scattered over the plain.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	sepoys	sepoy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	shoot	shoot	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	xcomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	galloped	gallop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
13	much	much	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	too	too	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	obl	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
22	all	all	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	scattered	scatter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
24	over	over	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	plain	plain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | the sepoys | vain |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vain=Eventuality |
| 2 | **shoot** | to-infinitive | the sepoys *not said here* | the horse |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent horse=Theme |
| 3 | **gallop** | past | horse |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **scatter** | past · passive |  | sepoys *= sepoy* |  | last |  | over the plain; all *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination-Conative»: subject=Theme at last=Destination |

<!-- .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:** «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7128 (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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