--- title: When they had climbed about half-way up the hill they saw a terrible… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: When they had climbed about half-way up the hill they saw a terrible-looking monster with the body of a snake, and with huge wings and claws, coming towards them, breathing forth flames of fire, and preparing to seize its victim. Who acts: shepherd, huge wings, fire. A sentence of «The Green Fairy B --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/56/26/) [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 Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/) / [The Three Dogs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/56/) / 26 # The Green Fairy Book, The Three Dogs, sentence 26 When they had climbed about half-way up the hill they saw a terrible-looking monster with the body of a snake, and with huge wings and claws, coming towards them, breathing forth flames of fire, and preparing to seize its victim. **Who acts:** shepherd, huge wings, fire · **What happens:** climb, see, look, come, breathe, prepare · **To what, where:** shepherd, looking monster, flames, victim This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Dogs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (shepherd, huge wings, fire), 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:pg7277:56:26 # text = When they had climbed about half-way up the hill they saw a terrible-looking monster with the body of a snake, and with huge wings and claws, coming towards them, breathing forth flames of fire, and preparing to seize its victim. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 4 advmod _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj:pass _ _ 3 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 climbed climb VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 5 about about ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 6 half half NOUN NN Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 8 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 7 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 8 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 9 up up ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 hill hill NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 12 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 13 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 acl:relcl _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 15 terrible terrible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 16 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 15 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 17 looking look VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 18 amod _ _ 18 monster monster NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ _ 19 with with ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 body body NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nmod _ _ 22 of of ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 snake snake NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 27 with with ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 huge huge ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 wings wing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 claws claw NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 33 coming come VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 29 acl _ _ 34 towards towards ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 37 breathing breathe VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 33 conj _ _ 38 forth forth ADV RB _ 37 advmod _ _ 39 flames flame NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 obj _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 fire fire NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 44 preparing prepare VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 4 advcl _ _ 45 to to PART TO _ 46 mark _ _ 46 seize seize VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 44 xcomp _ _ 47 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 48 nmod:poss _ _ 48 victim victim NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **climb** | past · perfect · passive | | shepherd | | | | up the hill; with huge wings and claws; half way *obl* | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme | | 2 | **see** | past | shepherd | a looking monster | | | | with the body of a snake | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer monster=Stimulus | | 3 | **look** | gerund | | | | | | | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 4 | **come** | gerund | huge wings and claws *not said here* | | | | | towards shepherd | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme towards they=Initial\_Location | | 5 | **breathe** | gerund | huge wings and claws *not said here* | flames of fire | | | | forth *property* | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flame=Theme | | 6 | **prepare** | gerund | | | | | | | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute | | 7 | **seize** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | | fire's victim | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent victim=Theme | | 8 | **flame** | | fire | | | | | | nom flame «process intransitive»: of=agent | 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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/56/25/) - next →: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/56/27/) - ↑ back to [The Three Dogs](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/56/)