---
title: They took a firm hold of the little man, and strove so stoutly with… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: They took a firm hold of the little man, and strove so stoutly with the eagle for possession of his contemplated prey, that, after much rough treatment on both sides, the dwarf was left in the hands of his brave little friends, and the eagle took to flight. Who acts: children, much rough treatment, 
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, Snow-white and Rose-red, sentence 90

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They took a firm hold of the little man, and strove so stoutly with the eagle for possession of his contemplated prey, that, after much rough treatment on both sides, the dwarf was left in the hands of his brave little friends, and the eagle took to flight.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** children, much rough treatment, eagle · **What happens:** take, strive, contemplate, leave, hold, possess · **To what, where:** firm hold, dwarf, hands, flight, little man, contemplated prey

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This is a sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Snow-white and Rose-red. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, much rough treatment, eagle), 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:pg11027:23:90
# text = They took a firm hold of the little man, and strove so stoutly with the eagle for possession of his contemplated prey, that, after much rough treatment on both sides, the dwarf was left in the hands of his brave little friends, and the eagle took to flight.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	firm	firm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	strove	strive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	stoutly	stoutly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	possession	possession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
22	contemplated	contemplate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	amod	_	_
23	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	after	after	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
29	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	treatment	treatment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	parataxis	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	33	det	_	_
33	sides	side	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj:pass	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux:pass	_	_
38	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	acl	_	_
39	in	in	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
44	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
45	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	eagle	eagle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	nsubj	_	_
51	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	flight	flight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | children *= child* | a firm hold of the little man |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme |
| 2 | **strive** | past | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the eagle for possession of eagle's contemplated prey; stoutly *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **contemplate** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **leave** | past · passive | much rough treatment on both sides *not said here* | the dwarf |  | the hands of eagle's brave little friends |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in hand=Location |
| 5 | **take** | past | the eagle | flight |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flight=Theme |
| 6 | **hold** |  |  | the little man |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **possess** |  |  | eagle's contemplated prey |  |  |  |  | nom possession «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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:** «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 11027 (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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