---
title: “We have been killing serpents vile and eating them,” said he; “A se… — Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems · tree and pragmatics
description: “We have been killing serpents vile and eating them,” said he; “A serpent’s liver eaten giveth magic gifts to man. Who acts: We, son, liver. A sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 14, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/14/53/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [Kulóskap the master, and other Algonki…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/) / [Opening, part 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/14/) / 53

# Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems, Opening, part 14, sentence 53

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“We have been killing serpents vile and eating them,” said he; “A serpent’s liver eaten giveth magic gifts to man.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** We, son, liver · **What happens:** kill, eat, say, give · **To what, where:** serpents, liver, magic gifts, man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Opening, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (We, son, liver), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg78673:14:53
# text = “We have been killing serpents vile and eating them,” said he; “A serpent’s liver eaten giveth magic gifts to man.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	aux	_	_
5	killing	kill	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	ccomp	_	_
6	serpents	serpent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	vile	vile	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	xcomp	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
13	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
16	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	’s	's	PART	POS	_	18	case	_	_
20	liver	liver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	acl	_	_
22	giveth	give	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
23	magic	magic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	gifts	gift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	TO	_	26	case	_	_
26	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kill** *in a quote* | present · perfect · progressive | We | serpents |  |  |  | vile *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent serpent=Theme |
| 2 | **eat** *in a quote* | gerund | We *not said here* | serpents *= serpent* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | son |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **eat** *in a quote* | participle |  | a serpent's liver *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **give** *in a quote* | present | a serpent's liver | magic gifts | man |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent gift=Theme to man=Recipient |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «Kulóskap the master, and other Algonkin poems», Project Gutenberg book 78673 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/14/52/)
- next →: [sentence 54](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/14/54/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg78673/14/)