---
title: _--The five-fold attack on the Demon and the Tar Baby is so preposte… — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: _--The five-fold attack on the Demon and the Tar Baby is so preposterously ludicrous that it cannot have been independently invented, and we must therefore assume that they are causally connected, and the existence of the variant in South Africa clinches the matter, and gives us a landing-stage betw
---

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# Indian Fairy Tales, XXV. the Demon With the Matted Hair., sentence 12

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\_--The five-fold attack on the Demon and the Tar Baby is so preposterously ludicrous that it cannot have been independently invented, and we must therefore assume that they are causally connected, and the existence of the variant in South Africa clinches the matter, and gives us a landing-stage between India and America.

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**Who acts:** fold attack, we, existence, variant · **What happens:** be, not invent, assume, connect, clinch, give · **To what, where:** attack, Demon, matter, landing stage, us

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This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, XXV. the Demon With the Matted Hair.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fold attack, we, existence, variant), 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:pg7128:56:12
# text = _--The five-fold attack on the Demon and the Tar Baby is so preposterously ludicrous that it cannot have been independently invented, and we must therefore assume that they are causally connected, and the existence of the variant in South Africa clinches the matter, and gives us a landing-stage between India and America.
1	_	_	PUNCT	NFP	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
4	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	fold	fold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	attack	attack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	Demon	demon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	Tar	Tar	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
14	Baby	Baby	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
17	preposterously	preposterously	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	ludicrous	ludicrous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
23	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux	_	_
24	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	aux:pass	_	_
25	independently	independently	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	invented	invent	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
29	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	therefore	therefore	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	assume	assume	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux:pass	_	_
36	causally	causally	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	connected	connect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	existence	existence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	variant	variant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	South	South	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	47	compound	_	_
47	Africa	Africa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	_
48	clinches	clinch	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	gives	give	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	48	conj	_	_
54	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	53	iobj	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
56	landing	landing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	56	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	stage	stage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	_
59	between	between	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	India	India	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	58	nmod	_	_
61	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
62	America	America	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	60	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | the fold attack on the Demon and the Tar Baby |  |  |  |  | ludicrous, preposterously *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **invent** | can · perfect · passive |  | attack |  |  |  | independently *property* | vn create-26.4-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Result |
| 3 | **assume** | must | we |  |  |  |  | therefore *property* | vn adopt-93.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **connect** | present · passive |  | Demon |  |  |  | causally *property* | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 5 | **clinch** | present | the existence of the variant in South Africa | the matter |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **give** | present | the existence of the variant in South Africa *not said here* | a landing stage | us |  |  | between India and America | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent we=Recipient stage=Theme |
| 7 | **exist** |  | the variant in South Africa |  |  |  |  |  | nom existence «state intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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