---
title: It was working round and round in its hole all by itself, and if any… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was working round and round in its hole all by itself, and if anyone except the boy had tried to catch hold of it, he would have been badly cut. Who acts: dream, anyone. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 91

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was working round and round in its hole all by itself, and if anyone except the boy had tried to catch hold of it, he would have been badly cut.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** dream, anyone · **What happens:** work, try, catch, cut, hold · **To what, where:** hold, Boy, dream

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dream, anyone), 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:pg2435:6:91
# text = It was working round and round in its hole all by itself, and if anyone except the boy had tried to catch hold of it, he would have been badly cut.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	working	work	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	round	round	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	round	round	ADV	RB	_	4	conj	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
10	all	all	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
15	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
16	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	21	nsubj	_	_
17	except	except	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	tried	try	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
24	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
29	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
30	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux	_	_
31	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	33	aux:pass	_	_
32	badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	33	advmod	_	_
33	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **work** | past · progressive | dream |  |  |  |  | in dream's hole by dream; round *property* | vn employment-95.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in hole=Theme |
| 2 | **try** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | anyone |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **catch** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | anyone *not said here* | hold of dream |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme |
| 4 | **cut** | would · perfect · passive |  | Boy |  |  |  | badly *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product |
| 5 | **hold** |  |  | dream |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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