---
title: He placed the cat on the mantel shelf, and they all crowded round to… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He placed the cat on the mantel shelf, and they all crowded round to examine this strange beast, and the cat rubbed itself against them, and held out its paw, and sang to them; and the women were delighted, and gave it everything that a cat could eat, and a great deal more besides. Who acts: man, wi
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 18, sentence 28

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He placed the cat on the mantel shelf, and they all crowded round to examine this strange beast, and the cat rubbed itself against them, and held out its paw, and sang to them; and the women were delighted, and gave it everything that a cat could eat, and a great deal more besides.

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**Who acts:** man, wife, cat, women, great deal · **What happens:** place, round, examine, rub, hold out, sing · **To what, where:** cat, mantel shelf, strange beast, paw, wife

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, wife, cat, women), 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:pg2435:18:28
# text = He placed the cat on the mantel shelf, and they all crowded round to examine this strange beast, and the cat rubbed itself against them, and held out its paw, and sang to them; and the women were delighted, and gave it everything that a cat could eat, and a great deal more besides.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	placed	place	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	mantel	mantel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	shelf	shelf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
13	crowded	crowded	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	round	round	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	examine	examine	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	acl	_	_
17	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
18	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	rubbed	rub	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
25	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	24	obj	_	_
26	against	against	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
31	out	out	ADP	RP	_	30	compound:prt	_	_
32	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	paw	paw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
37	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nsubj	_	_
43	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	cop	_	_
44	delighted	delighted	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
48	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	_
49	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	47	obj	_	_
50	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	nsubj	_	_
53	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	61	cc	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	deal	deal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	nsubj	_	_
60	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	61	advmod	_	_
61	besides	beside	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | past | man | the cat |  | the mantel shelf |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent cat=Theme on shelf=Destination |
| 2 | **round** |  | wife |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **examine** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | this strange beast |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent beast=Theme |
| 4 | **rub** | past | the cat | cat |  |  |  | against wife | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent itself=Theme against they=Destination |
| 5 | **hold out** | participle | man *not said here* | cat's paw |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent paw=Theme |
| 6 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | man *not said here* |  | wife |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to they=Recipient |
| 7 | **is** | past | the women |  |  |  |  | delighted *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **give** | past | man *not said here* | paw |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent it=Recipient everything=Theme |
| 9 | **eat** | could | a cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **beside** |  | a great deal |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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