---
title: Then he cut off the tails and tied them together with a piece of cor… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he cut off the tails and tied them together with a piece of cord, and swinging the bundle over his back, he returned to the place where they should have been feeding. Who acts: patience, tails. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 26, with its depe
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 26, sentence 55

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then he cut off the tails and tied them together with a piece of cord, and swinging the bundle over his back, he returned to the place where they should have been feeding.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** patience, tails · **What happens:** cut off, tie, swing, return, feed · **To what, where:** tails, bundle, back

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (patience, tails), 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:pg2435:26:55
# text = Then he cut off the tails and tied them together with a piece of cord, and swinging the bundle over his back, he returned to the place where they should have been feeding.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	tied	tie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
9	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	together	together	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	swinging	swing	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	bundle	bundle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	over	over	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	returned	return	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
30	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	35	advmod	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
32	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
33	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	aux	_	_
34	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	35	aux	_	_
35	feeding	feed	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut off** | past | patience | the tails |  |  | then |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector tail=Eventuality |
| 2 | **tie** | past | patience *not said here* | tails *= tail* |  |  |  | with a piece of cord; together *property* | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent they=Patient with piece=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **swing** | gerund | patience *not said here* | the bundle |  | patience's back |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent bundle=Theme over back=Trajectory |
| 4 | **return** | past | patience |  |  |  |  | to the place *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to place=Result |
| 5 | **feed** | should · perfect · progressive | tails *= tail* |  |  |  |  |  | vn gorge-39.6 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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