--- title: The one in the middle held a mussel in its mouth, which it laid on t… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: The one in the middle held a mussel in its mouth, which it laid on the shore at the youth’s feet, and when he had taken it up and opened it, there lay the gold ring in the shell. Who acts: one, mouth, youth. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The White Snake, with its dependency tre --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/43/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Grimms' Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/) / [The White Snake](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/) / 43 # Grimms' Fairy Tales, The White Snake, sentence 43 The one in the middle held a mussel in its mouth, which it laid on the shore at the youth’s feet, and when he had taken it up and opened it, there lay the gold ring in the shell. **Who acts:** one, mouth, youth · **What happens:** hold, lay, take up, open, lie · **To what, where:** mussel, mouth, shore, gold ring, shell This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The White Snake. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, mouth, youth), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2591:34:43 # text = The one in the middle held a mussel in its mouth, which it laid on the shore at the youth’s feet, and when he had taken it up and opened it, there lay the gold ring in the shell. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 3 in in ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 middle middle NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nmod _ _ 6 held hold VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 7 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 mussel mussel NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ _ 9 in in ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 mouth mouth NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 13 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 15 nsubj _ _ 14 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 15 laid lay VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 16 on on ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 shore shore NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 19 at at ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 youth youth NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ’s 's PART POS _ 21 case _ _ 23 feet foot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 25 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 26 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 29 advmod _ _ 27 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 28 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ _ 29 taken take VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 6 parataxis _ _ 30 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obj _ _ 31 up up ADP RP _ 29 compound:prt _ _ 32 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 33 opened open VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 conj _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 36 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 37 expl _ _ 37 lay lie VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 advcl _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 gold gold NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 compound _ _ 40 ring ring NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 41 in in ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 shell shell NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 6 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **hold** | past | the one in the middle | a mussel | | mussel's mouth | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent mussel=Theme in mouth=Location | | 2 | **lay** | past | mussel's mouth | | | the shore | | at the youth's feet | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent on shore=Destination | | 3 | **take up** | past · perfect | youth | mussel | | | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 4 | **open** | past | youth *not said here* | mussel | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location it=Theme | | 5 | **lie** | past | youth *not said here* | the gold ring | | the shell; there | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location ring=Theme | 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. **Text:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/42/) - next →: [sentence 44](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/44/) - ↑ back to [The White Snake](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/34/)