--- title: But while the snakes, not suspicious of a ruse, were in the very act… — The grateful elephant · tree and pragmatics description: But while the snakes, not suspicious of a ruse, were in the very act of taking the drink of immortality, Indra, king of the gods, suddenly swooped down, and confounding them with his mighty prowess, carried off the vessel containing the drink of immortality. Who acts: snakes, act, mighty prowess, ve --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/76/) [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 grateful elephant](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/) / [Opening, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/) / 76 # The grateful elephant, Opening, part 16, sentence 76 But while the snakes, not suspicious of a ruse, were in the very act of taking the drink of immortality, Indra, king of the gods, suddenly swooped down, and confounding them with his mighty prowess, carried off the vessel containing the drink of immortality. **Who acts:** snakes, act, mighty prowess, vessel · **What happens:** be, take, swoop down, confound, carry off, contain · **To what, where:** act, drink, gods, snakes, vessel This is a sentence of «The grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Opening, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (snakes, act, mighty prowess, vessel), 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:pg74064:16:79 # text = But while the snakes, not suspicious of a ruse, were in the very act of taking the drink of immortality, Indra, king of the gods, suddenly swooped down, and confounding them with his mighty prowess, carried off the vessel containing the drink of immortality. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 2 while while SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 snakes snake NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 6 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 7 advmod _ _ 7 suspicious suspicious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 amod _ _ 8 of of ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 ruse ruse NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 12 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 cop _ _ 13 in in ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 15 very very ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 16 act act NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 17 of of SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 18 taking take VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 16 advcl _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 drink drink NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 immortality immortality NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 24 Indra Indra PROPN NNP Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 26 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 appos _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 gods god NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 32 punct _ _ 31 suddenly suddenly ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 swooped swoop VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 29 acl _ _ 33 down down ADP RP _ 32 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 confounding confound VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 16 acl _ _ 37 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obj _ _ 38 with with ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 39 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 40 mighty mighty ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 41 amod _ _ 41 prowess prowess NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 43 carried carry VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 acl _ _ 44 off off ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 vessel vessel NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ _ 47 containing contain VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 46 acl _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 drink drink NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obj _ _ 50 of of ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 51 immortality immortality NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 52 . . PUNCT . _ 16 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the snakes | | | the act | | king of the gods *appos* | tree rules | | 2 | **take** | gerund | the snakes *not said here* | the drink of immortality | | | | Indra *obl* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent drink=Theme | | 3 | **swoop down** | participle | | the gods *not said here* | | | | suddenly *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **confound** | gerund | the act *not said here* | snakes *= snake* | | | | with king's mighty prowess | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer | | 5 | **carry off** | participle | king's mighty prowess *not said here* | the vessel | | | | | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent vessel=Theme | | 6 | **contain** | gerund | the vessel *not said here* | the drink of immortality | | | | | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot drink=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 grateful elephant» by Eugene Watson Burlingame, Project Gutenberg book 74064 (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 75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/75/) - next →: [sentence 77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/77/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74064/16/)