---
title: The Ravens thought this was a good idea, and flying down, they perch… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: The Ravens thought this was a good idea, and flying down, they perched on the Horses’ backs, and began to dig their beaks into the sore places. Who acts: Ravens, this. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, How the Hare Got His Split Lip., with its dependen
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, How the Hare Got His Split Lip., sentence 40

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The Ravens thought this was a good idea, and flying down, they perched on the Horses’ backs, and began to dig their beaks into the sore places.

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**Who acts:** Ravens, this · **What happens:** think, be, fly down, perch, begin, dig · **To what, where:** good idea, backs, beaks · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, How the Hare Got His Split Lip.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ravens, this), 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:pg75000:2:40
# text = The Ravens thought this was a good idea, and flying down, they perched on the Horses’ backs, and began to dig their beaks into the sore places.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Ravens	raven	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
12	down	down	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	perched	perch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	Horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	’	's	PART	POS	_	18	case	_	_
20	backs	back	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	dig	dig	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	beaks	beak	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
28	into	into	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	sore	sore	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | the Ravens |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is a** | past | this | a good idea |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fly down** | gerund | the Ravens *not said here* |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **perch** | past | Ravens *= raven* |  |  | the Horses's backs |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on back=Location |
| 5 | **begin** | past | Ravens *= raven* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **dig** | to-infinitive | Ravens *= raven* *not said here* | backs's beaks |  |  |  | into the sore places | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.patient»: agent=Agent beak=Instrument into place=Patient |

<!-- .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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