---
title: When the raven had taken breath, and saw that the snake was dead, he… — Celtic Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When the raven had taken breath, and saw that the snake was dead, he said, "For thy kindness to me this day, I will give thee a sight. Who acts: snake. A sentence of «Celtic Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, The Battle of the Birds, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Celtic Fairy Tales, The Battle of the Birds, sentence 22

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the raven had taken breath, and saw that the snake was dead, he said, "For thy kindness to me this day, I will give thee a sight.

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**Who acts:** snake · **What happens:** take, see, be, say, give · **To what, where:** raven, sight, thee · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (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:pg7885:31:22
# text = When the raven had taken breath, and saw that the snake was dead, he said, "For thy kindness to me this day, I will give thee a sight.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	advcl	_	_
6	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
14	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	For	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	thy	thy	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	kindness	kindness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	ccomp	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nmod	_	_
25	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
28	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
31	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	30	iobj	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	30	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past · perfect · passive |  | the raven |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: subject=Theme breath=Destination |
| 2 | **see** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | past | the snake |  |  |  |  | dead *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | snake |  |  |  | day |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **give** *in a quote* | future | snake | a sight | thee |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent thou=Recipient sight=Theme |

<!-- .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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