---
title: If it were possible to make the Spiders believe that spring had arri… — Folk tales from Tibet · tree and pragmatics
description: If it were possible to make the Spiders believe that spring had arrived, they would come out of the ear at once; otherwise they will remain there all through the winter.” Who acts: Spider, Spiders, spring, Ravens. A sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, How 
---

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# Folk tales from Tibet, How He Dislodged the Spider., sentence 12

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If it were possible to make the Spiders believe that spring had arrived, they would come out of the ear at once; otherwise they will remain there all through the winter.”

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**Who acts:** Spider, Spiders, spring, Ravens · **What happens:** be, make, believe, arrive, come out, remain

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This is a sentence of «Folk tales from Tibet» by William Frederick Travers, Sir O'Connor, How He Dislodged the Spider.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Spider, Spiders, spring, Ravens), 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:pg75000:24:12
# text = If it were possible to make the Spiders believe that spring had arrived, they would come out of the ear at once; otherwise they will remain there all through the winter.”
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	advcl	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	Spiders	spider	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	believe	believe	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
11	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	parataxis	_	_
18	out	out	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	otherwise	otherwise	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
26	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	remain	remain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
29	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	_
30	all	all	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
31	through	through	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Spider |  |  |  |  | possible *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 3 | **believe** | present | the Spiders |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **arrive** | past · perfect | spring |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **come out** | would | Ravens *= raven* |  |  |  |  | of the ear; out *property* | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **remain** | future | Ravens *= raven* |  |  | there | winter | otherwise *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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