---
title: They were both very fine, well-grown animals, and they used to prey… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: They were both very fine, well-grown animals, and they used to prey upon all the smaller beasts in that part of the country; until at last they became so powerful that no other animal was safe from their clutches, and the wild beasts of the neighbourhood lived in a continual state of terror. Who act
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Hare and the Lions., sentence 2

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They were both very fine, well-grown animals, and they used to prey upon all the smaller beasts in that part of the country; until at last they became so powerful that no other animal was safe from their clutches, and the wild beasts of the neighbourhood lived in a continual state of terror.

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**Who acts:** rocks, other animal, wild beasts · **What happens:** be, grow, use, become, live, clutch · **To what, where:** prey, last, clutches, continual state

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Hare and the Lions.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rocks, other animal, wild beasts), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg75000:10:2
# text = They were both very fine, well-grown animals, and they used to prey upon all the smaller beasts in that part of the country; until at last they became so powerful that no other animal was safe from their clutches, and the wild beasts of the neighbourhood lived in a continual state of terror.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	both	both	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	well	well	INTJ	UH	_	10	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	amod	_	_
10	animals	animal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
18	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	21	det:predet	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	smaller	small	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	21	amod	_	_
21	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	det	_	_
24	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
30	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	obl	_	_
32	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
34	so	so	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	powerful	powerful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	xcomp	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
37	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	39	det	_	_
38	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	animal	animal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
40	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
41	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	advcl	_	_
42	from	from	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	clutches	clutch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	nsubj	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	neighbourhood	neighbourhood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nmod	_	_
53	lived	live	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
54	in	in	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
56	continual	continual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
57	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
58	of	of	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
59	terror	terror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | rocks *= rock* |  |  |  |  | grown animals *conj*; both, fine *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **grow** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **use** | past | rocks *= rock* | prey |  |  |  | upon all smaller beasts in that part of the country | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent prey=Patient |
| 4 | **become** | past | rocks *= rock* |  |  | last |  | powerful *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **is** | past | no other animal |  |  | rocks's clutches |  | safe *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **live** | past | the wild beasts of the neighbourhood |  |  | a continual state of terror |  |  | vn lodge-46 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in state=Location |
| 7 | **clutch** |  | rocks *= rock* |  |  |  |  |  | nom clutch «act transitive»: poss=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:** «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, Project Gutenberg book 75000 (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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