---
title: Some nibbled at the bowstrings and the slings of the soldiers’ muske… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: Some nibbled at the bowstrings and the slings of the soldiers’ muskets; others gnawed the slow-match and fuses; whilst others bit off the clothes and pigtails of the sleeping men. Who acts: others. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Country of the M
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Country of the Mice., sentence 50

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Some nibbled at the bowstrings and the slings of the soldiers’ muskets; others gnawed the slow-match and fuses; whilst others bit off the clothes and pigtails of the sleeping men.

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**Who acts:** others · **What happens:** nibble, gnaw, fuse, bite off · **To what, where:** Some, bowstrings, slow match, clothes

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, The Country of the Mice.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (others), 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:pg75000:20:50
# text = Some nibbled at the bowstrings and the slings of the soldiers’ muskets; others gnawed the slow-match and fuses; whilst others bit off the clothes and pigtails of the sleeping men.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	nibbled	nibble	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	bowstrings	bowstring	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	slings	sling	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	conj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	’	's	PART	POS	_	11	case	_	_
13	muskets	musket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
15	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	gnawed	gnaw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
18	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	match	match	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	fuses	fuse	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
25	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj	_	_
26	bit	bite	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
27	off	off	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	26	obl	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	pigtails	pigtail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	sleeping	sleeping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	compound	_	_
35	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **nibble** | participle · passive |  | Some |  | the bowstrings and the slings of the soldiers's muskets |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **gnaw** | past | others | the slow match |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent match=Patient |
| 3 | **fuse** | present | others *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **bite off** | past | others | the clothes and pigtails of the sleeping men |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent clothes=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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