--- title: It was in vain that he struggled and wrenched his arm to and fro, en… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics description: It was in vain that he struggled and wrenched his arm to and fro, endeavouring to release it; the stone jaws of the Lion gripped him so tight that he was totally unable to effect his escape, and the Lion, deaf to all prayers and entreaties, had relapsed apparently into an insensible figure of stone. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/18/50/) [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/) / [Folk tales from Tibet](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/) / [The Story of the Stone Lion.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/18/) / 50 # Folk tales from Tibet, The Story of the Stone Lion., sentence 50 It was in vain that he struggled and wrenched his arm to and fro, endeavouring to release it; the stone jaws of the Lion gripped him so tight that he was totally unable to effect his escape, and the Lion, deaf to all prayers and entreaties, had relapsed apparently into an insensible figure of stone. **Who acts:** hand, Lion, stone jaws · **What happens:** be, struggle, wrench, fro, endeavour, release · **To what, where:** arm, hand, Lion, effect, insensible figure, stone This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Story of the Stone Lion.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hand, Lion, stone jaws), 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:pg75000:18:50 # text = It was in vain that he struggled and wrenched his arm to and fro, endeavouring to release it; the stone jaws of the Lion gripped him so tight that he was totally unable to effect his escape, and the Lion, deaf to all prayers and entreaties, had relapsed apparently into an insensible figure of stone. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 in in ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 4 vain vain ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 7 mark _ _ 6 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 struggled struggle VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 advcl _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 9 wrenched wrench VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 10 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 arm arm NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 12 to to ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 14 fro fro VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 16 endeavouring endeavour VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 14 advcl _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 release release VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 xcomp _ _ 19 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 ; ; PUNCT : _ 27 punct _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 22 stone stone NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 compound _ _ 23 jaws jaw NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 nsubj _ _ 24 of of ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 Lion Lion PROPN NNP Number=Sing 23 nmod _ _ 27 gripped grip VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 28 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 obj _ _ 29 so so ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 30 tight tight ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 xcomp _ _ 31 that that SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 33 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 cop _ _ 34 totally totally ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 35 unable unable ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 advcl _ _ 36 to to PART TO _ 37 mark _ _ 37 effect effect NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 xcomp _ _ 38 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 39 nmod:poss _ _ 39 escape escape NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 Lion Lion PROPN NNP Number=Sing 45 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 45 deaf deaf ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ _ 46 to to ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 48 det _ _ 48 prayers prayer NOUN NNS Number=Plur 45 obl _ _ 49 and and CCONJ CC _ 50 cc _ _ 50 entreaties entreaty NOUN NNS Number=Plur 48 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 51 , , PUNCT , _ 53 punct _ _ 52 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 53 aux _ _ 53 relapsed relapse VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ _ 54 apparently apparently ADV RB _ 53 advmod _ _ 55 into into ADP IN _ 58 case _ _ 56 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 58 det _ _ 57 insensible insensible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 58 amod _ _ 58 figure figure NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 obl _ _ 59 of of ADP IN _ 60 case _ _ 60 stone stone NOUN NN Number=Sing 58 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 61 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | hand | | | | | vain *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **struggle** | past | Lion | | | | | | vn battle-36.4 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **wrench** | past | Lion *not said here* | Lion's arm | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer arm=Patient | | 4 | **fro** | infinitive | Lion *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **endeavour** | gerund | Lion *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **release** | to-infinitive | Lion *not said here* | hand | | | | | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Causer it=Source | | 7 | **grip** | past | the stone jaws of the Lion | Lion | | | | tight *property* | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Experiencer | | 8 | **is** | past | Lion | effect Lion's escape | | | | totally, unable *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **be** | | the Lion | | | | | to all prayers and entreaties | tree rules | | 10 | **relapse** | past · perfect | hand *not said here* | | | a insensible figure of stone | | apparently *property* | tree rules | | 11 | **escape** | | Lion | | | | | | nom escape «act intransitive»: poss=agent | | 12 | **figure** | | | stone | | | | | nom figure «communication transitive»: of=patient | 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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 49](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/18/49/) - next →: [sentence 51](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/18/51/) - ↑ back to [The Story of the Stone Lion.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg75000/18/)