---
title: In fact, they attacked fiercely anything upon which their teeth coul… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: In fact, they attacked fiercely anything upon which their teeth could make an impression, and tents, stores, grain, and provisions of all kinds were soon reduced to shreds or scattered in confusion in every direction; and after a couple of hours’ work they all collected upon the river bank, and, emb
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, The Country of the Mice., sentence 51

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In fact, they attacked fiercely anything upon which their teeth could make an impression, and tents, stores, grain, and provisions of all kinds were soon reduced to shreds or scattered in confusion in every direction; and after a couple of hours’ work they all collected upon the river bank, and, embarking again on their sticks, they sailed quietly over to their own shore without having been detected by the enemy, or even having caused any alarm.

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**Who acts:** others, teeth, enemy, kinds, hours · **What happens:** attack, make, reduce, scatter, collect, embark · **To what, where:** anything, fact, impression, provisions, shreds, confusion

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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, teeth, enemy, kinds), 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:pg75000:20:51
# text = In fact, they attacked fiercely anything upon which their teeth could make an impression, and tents, stores, grain, and provisions of all kinds were soon reduced to shreds or scattered in confusion in every direction; and after a couple of hours’ work they all collected upon the river bank, and, embarking again on their sticks, they sailed quietly over to their own shore without having been detected by the enemy, or even having caused any alarm.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	attacked	attack	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	fiercely	fiercely	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	obj	_	_
8	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	obl	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
12	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl:relcl	_	_
14	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	impression	impression	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	tents	tent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	stores	store	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	grain	grain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
25	provisions	provision	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	28	det	_	_
28	kinds	kind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	_
29	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
30	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	advmod	_	_
31	reduced	reduce	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
32	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	shreds	shred	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	obl	_	_
34	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	scattered	scatter	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	conj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	confusion	confusion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	40	det	_	_
40	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
43	after	after	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	couple	couple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	’	's	PART	POS	_	47	case	_	_
49	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
50	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
51	all	all	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
52	collected	collect	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
53	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
55	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	compound	_	_
56	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	60	punct	_	_
60	embarking	embark	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	52	advcl	_	_
61	again	again	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
62	on	on	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
63	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	64	nmod:poss	_	_
64	sticks	stick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	67	punct	_	_
66	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	67	nsubj	_	_
67	sailed	sail	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
68	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	69	advmod	_	_
69	over	over	ADV	RB	_	67	advmod	_	_
70	to	to	ADP	IN	_	73	case	_	_
71	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	73	nmod:poss	_	_
72	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	73	amod	_	_
73	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	obl	_	_
74	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	77	mark	_	_
75	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	77	aux	_	_
76	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	77	aux:pass	_	_
77	detected	detect	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	67	advcl	_	_
78	by	by	ADP	IN	_	80	case	_	_
79	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	80	det	_	_
80	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	77	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
81	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	85	punct	_	_
82	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	85	cc	_	_
83	even	even	ADV	RB	_	84	advmod	_	_
84	having	have	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	85	aux	_	_
85	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	67	parataxis	_	_
86	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	87	det	_	_
87	alarm	alarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	85	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
88	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **attack** | past | others *= other* | anything |  | fact |  | tents and stores and grain *obl* | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Patient |
| 2 | **make** | could | others's teeth | a impression |  |  |  | which *obl* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset impression=Product |
| 3 | **reduce** | past · passive |  | provisions of all kinds |  |  |  | to shreds *goal*; soon *property* | vn limit-76 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Patient to shred=Goal |
| 4 | **scatter** | participle |  |  |  | confusion |  | in every direction | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme in confusion=Destination |
| 5 | **collect** | past | others *= other* |  |  |  | after a couple of hours's work | upon the river bank; all *property* | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **embark** | gerund | others *= other* *not said here* |  |  | others's sticks | again |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **sail** | past | others *= other* |  |  | others's own shore |  | over *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent to shore=Trajectory |
| 8 | **detect** | gerund · perfect · passive | the enemy |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 9 | **cause** | gerund · perfect |  | any alarm |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition alarm=Patient |
| 10 | **provide** |  | all kinds |  |  |  |  |  | nom provision «communication intransitive»: of=agent |
| 11 | **work** |  | hours |  |  |  |  |  | nom work «act intransitive»: 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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