--- title: She grabbed with both hands at a snag near by to steady herself with… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: She grabbed with both hands at a snag near by to steady herself with, but as she touched it, it twined itself round her wrists, like a pair of handcuffs, and gript her so that she couldn't move. Who acts: goodwife, snag. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy T --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/24/63/) [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/) / [More English Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/) / [More English Fairy Tales, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/24/) / 63 # More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 10, sentence 63 She grabbed with both hands at a snag near by to steady herself with, but as she touched it, it twined itself round her wrists, like a pair of handcuffs, and gript her so that she couldn't move. **Who acts:** goodwife, snag · **What happens:** grab, touch, twine, gript, not move · **To what, where:** snag, wrists, goodwife This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (goodwife, snag), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg14241:24:63 # text = She grabbed with both hands at a snag near by to steady herself with, but as she touched it, it twined itself round her wrists, like a pair of handcuffs, and gript her so that she couldn't move. 1 She she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 grabbed grab VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 with with ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 both both DET DT PronType=Tot 5 det _ _ 5 hands hand NOUN NNS Number=Plur 2 obl _ _ 6 at at ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 snag snag NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ _ 9 near near ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 10 by by ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 steady steady ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 2 advcl _ _ 13 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 12 nsubj _ _ 14 with with ADP IN _ 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 16 but but CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 17 as as SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 18 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 touched touch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 advcl _ _ 20 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 22 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 23 twined twine VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 24 itself itself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 23 obj _ _ 25 round round ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 wrists wrist NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 like like ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 pair pair NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ _ 32 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 handcuffs handcuff NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 36 gript gript VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 37 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obj _ _ 38 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 43 mark _ _ 39 that that SCONJ IN _ 38 fixed _ _ 40 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 41 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 42 n't not PART RB Polarity=Neg 43 advmod _ _ 43 move move VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **grab** | past | goodwife | | | a snag | | with both hands | vn steal-10.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **touch** | past | goodwife | snag | | | | | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Co-Theme | | 3 | **twine** | past | snag | snag | | goodwife's wrists | | like a pair of handcuffs | vn coil-9.6 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent itself=Theme round wrist=Destination | | 4 | **gript** | past | goodwife *not said here* | goodwife | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **not** **move** | could | goodwife | | | | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | 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. **Text:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/24/62/) - next →: [sentence 64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/24/64/) - ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/24/)