---
title: As the grain touched the ground it was transformed instantly into th… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: As the grain touched the ground it was transformed instantly into three wild cats, who leapt fiercely upon the cocks and hens, and in a few moments, having destroyed them all, fled away into the hills. Who acts: three wild cats. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Prince and the Ogre’s Castle., sentence 34

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As the grain touched the ground it was transformed instantly into three wild cats, who leapt fiercely upon the cocks and hens, and in a few moments, having destroyed them all, fled away into the hills.

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**Who acts:** three wild cats · **What happens:** touch, transform, leapt, destroy, flee away · **To what, where:** ground, hens, hills

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Prince and the Ogre’s Castle.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (three wild cats), 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:pg75000:17:34
# text = As the grain touched the ground it was transformed instantly into three wild cats, who leapt fiercely upon the cocks and hens, and in a few moments, having destroyed them all, fled away into the hills.
1	As	as	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
4	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	transformed	transform	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
10	instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	into	into	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
13	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
17	leapt	leapt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
18	fiercely	fiercely	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	cocks	cock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	hens	hen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	moments	moment	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
31	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	aux	_	_
32	destroyed	destroy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	parataxis	_	_
33	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	_
34	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	33	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	fled	flee	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
37	away	away	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
38	into	into	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **touch** | past |  | the ground |  |  |  | as the grain | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme ground=Co-Theme |
| 2 | **transform** | past · passive |  | ground |  |  |  | into three wild cats *result*; instantly *property* | vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V NP.patient PP.result»: subject=Patient into cat=Result |
| 3 | **leapt** | past | three wild cats |  |  |  |  | upon the cocks and hens; fiercely *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **destroy** | gerund · perfect |  | hens *= hen* |  |  | moment |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 5 | **flee away** | past |  |  |  | the hills |  | away *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into hill=Initial\_Location |

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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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