--- title: Instinctively the Clerk obeyed; with a few strokes of his wings he w… — Andersen's Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Instinctively the Clerk obeyed; with a few strokes of his wings he was out of the cage; but at the same moment the door, which was only ajar, and which led to the next room, began to creak, and supple and creeping came the large tomcat into the room, and began to pursue him. Who acts: Clerk, Polly, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/9/37/) [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/) / [Andersen's Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/) / [The Shoes of Fortune, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/9/) / 37 # Andersen's Fairy Tales, The Shoes of Fortune, part 5, sentence 37 Instinctively the Clerk obeyed; with a few strokes of his wings he was out of the cage; but at the same moment the door, which was only ajar, and which led to the next room, began to creak, and supple and creeping came the large tomcat into the room, and began to pursue him. **Who acts:** Clerk, Polly, door, supple · **What happens:** obey, be, lead, begin, creak, creep · **To what, where:** wings, cage, large tomcat, room, Polly This is a sentence of «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, The Shoes of Fortune, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Clerk, Polly, door, supple), 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:pg1597:9:37 # text = Instinctively the Clerk obeyed; with a few strokes of his wings he was out of the cage; but at the same moment the door, which was only ajar, and which led to the next room, began to creak, and supple and creeping came the large tomcat into the room, and began to pursue him. 1 Instinctively instinctively ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 Clerk Clerk PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 obeyed obey VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 ; ; PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 6 with with ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 8 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 amod _ _ 9 strokes stroke NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ _ 10 of of ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 12 nmod:poss _ _ 12 wings wing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nmod _ _ 13 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 14 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 18 cop _ _ 15 out out ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 16 of of ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 cage cage NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 ; ; PUNCT : _ 20 punct _ _ 20 but but CCONJ CC _ 4 obj _ _ 21 at at ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 23 same same ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 amod _ _ 24 moment moment NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obl _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 door door NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 28 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 31 nsubj _ _ 29 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 cop _ _ 30 only only ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 31 ajar ajar ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 34 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 35 nsubj _ _ 35 led lead VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 parataxis _ _ 36 to to ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 38 next next ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 room room NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 41 punct _ _ 41 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 conj _ _ 42 to to PART TO _ 43 mark _ _ 43 creak creak VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 45 and and CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 46 supple supple ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 49 nsubj _ _ 47 and and CCONJ CC _ 48 cc _ _ 48 creeping creep VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 46 conj _ _ 49 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 conj _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 52 det _ _ 51 large large ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 52 amod _ _ 52 tomcat tomcat NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 obj _ _ 53 into into ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 54 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 55 det _ _ 55 room room NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 56 , , PUNCT , _ 58 punct _ _ 57 and and CCONJ CC _ 58 cc _ _ 58 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 41 parataxis _ _ 59 to to PART TO _ 60 mark _ _ 60 pursue pursue VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 58 xcomp _ _ 61 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 60 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 62 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **obey** | past | the Clerk | | | | | with a few strokes of Polly's wings; instinctively *property* | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent but=Theme | | 2 | **is** | past | Polly | Polly's wings *not said here* | | the cage | | | tree rules | | 3 | **is** | past | the door | | | | | ajar *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **lead** | past | | | | | | to the next room | vn result-27.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Precondition to room=Patient | | 5 | **begin** | past | | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 6 | **creak** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **creep** | gerund | supple *not said here* | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **come** | past | supple | the large tomcat | | the room | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location tomcat=Theme | | 9 | **begin** | past | | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 10 | **pursue** | to-infinitive | | Polly | | | | | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | | 11 | **stroke** | | | Polly's wings | | | | | nom stroke «act transitive»: of=patient | 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:** «Andersen's Fairy Tales» by H. C. Andersen, Project Gutenberg book 1597 (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 36](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/9/36/) - next →: [sentence 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/9/38/) - ↑ back to [The Shoes of Fortune, part 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg1597/9/)