---
title: The snake was twined about the raven's neck, and the raven held the… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The snake was twined about the raven's neck, and the raven held the snake's throat in his beak, and it seemed as if the snake would get the victory over the raven. Who acts: raven, it, snake. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Battle of the Birds, with its dependency tree and t
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, The Battle of the Birds, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The snake was twined about the raven's neck, and the raven held the snake's throat in his beak, and it seemed as if the snake would get the victory over the raven.

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**Who acts:** raven, it, snake · **What happens:** twine, hold, seem, get · **To what, where:** snake, throat, beak, victory, raven

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This is a sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Battle of the Birds. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (raven, it, snake), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg7885:31:20
# text = The snake was twined about the raven's neck, and the raven held the snake's throat in his beak, and it seemed as if the snake would get the victory over the raven.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux:pass	_	_
4	twined	twine	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	's	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	's	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	_
18	throat	throat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	beak	beak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
27	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	ccomp	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	victory	victory	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
34	over	over	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **twine** | past · passive |  | the snake |  |  |  | about the raven's neck | vn coil-9.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **hold** | past | the raven | the snake's throat |  | snake's beak |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent throat=Theme in beak=Location |
| 3 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **get** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | the snake | the victory |  | the raven |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer victory=Stimulus |

<!-- .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:** «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7885 (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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