---
title: First the handle of the kettle gradually changed its shape and becam… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: First the handle of the kettle gradually changed its shape and became a head, and the spout grew into a tail, while out of the body sprang four paws, and in a few minutes the man found himself watching, not a kettle, but a tanuki! Who acts: handle, spout, man. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» 
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 38, sentence 110

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
First the handle of the kettle gradually changed its shape and became a head, and the spout grew into a tail, while out of the body sprang four paws, and in a few minutes the man found himself watching, not a kettle, but a tanuki!

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**Who acts:** handle, spout, man · **What happens:** change, become, grow, spring, find, watch · **To what, where:** shape, head, tail, four paws, body, man

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (handle, spout, man), 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:pg2435:38:110
# text = First the handle of the kettle gradually changed its shape and became a head, and the spout grew into a tail, while out of the body sprang four paws, and in a few minutes the man found himself watching, not a kettle, but a tanuki!
1	First	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	handle	handle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	kettle	kettle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	gradually	gradually	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	changed	change	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	spout	spout	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
20	into	into	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
24	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
29	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
30	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nummod	_	_
31	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
40	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
41	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	40	obj	_	_
42	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	40	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	kettle	kettle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
48	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	tanuki	tanuki	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **change** | past | the handle of the kettle | Kettle's shape |  |  |  | a tanuki *obl*; first, gradually *property* | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shape=Patient |
| 2 | **become** | past | the handle of the kettle *not said here* | a head |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **grow** | past | the spout |  |  |  |  | into a tail *result* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into tail=Result |
| 4 | **spring** | past | the spout *not said here* | four paws |  | the body |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location paw=Theme |
| 5 | **find** | past | the man | man |  |  | minute |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent himself=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 6 | **watch** | gerund | man *not said here* | a kettle |  |  |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: 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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