---
title: But he clung on tight, and after failing to reach him three times th… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But he clung on tight, and after failing to reach him three times the stream returned to its proper course. Who acts: Luck, stream. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 2, sentence 126

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But he clung on tight, and after failing to reach him three times the stream returned to its proper course.

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**Who acts:** Luck, stream · **What happens:** cling on, fail, not reach, return · **To what, where:** Luck, three times, proper course

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Luck, stream), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg2435:2:126
# text = But he clung on tight, and after failing to reach him three times the stream returned to its proper course.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	clung	cling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	tight	tight	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	after	after	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	failing	fail	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl:unmarked	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
20	proper	proper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cling on** | past | Luck |  |  |  |  | tight *property* | vn cling-22.5 «NP V together»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **fail** | gerund | Luck *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **not** **reach** | to-infinitive | Luck *not said here* | Luck |  |  | time |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 4 | **return** | past | the stream | three times *not said here* |  | word's proper course |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent time=Theme to course=Destination |

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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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