---
title: He had no power to resist; he let go with his hands, and tugged and… — Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: He had no power to resist; he let go with his hands, and tugged and tugged till the rope that held him grew slacker and slacker, and then he went dancing round and round the pillar at a furious rate, with the rope chafing his hands and feet all the time. Who acts: parson, rope. A sentence of «Cossac
---

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# Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales, The Two Princes, part 2, sentence 115

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had no power to resist; he let go with his hands, and tugged and tugged till the rope that held him grew slacker and slacker, and then he went dancing round and round the pillar at a furious rate, with the rope chafing his hands and feet all the time.

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**Who acts:** parson, rope · **What happens:** have, resist, let, go, tug, hold · **To what, where:** power, parson, slacker, pillar, furious rate, hands

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», The Two Princes, 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 (parson, rope), 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:pg29672:23:115
# text = He had no power to resist; he let go with his hands, and tugged and tugged till the rope that held him grew slacker and slacker, and then he went dancing round and round the pillar at a furious rate, with the rope chafing his hands and feet all the time.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	power	power	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	resist	resist	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	let	let	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
10	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
11	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	tugged	tug	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	tugged	tug	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	advcl	_	_
19	till	till	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	acl:relcl	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
26	slacker	slacker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	slacker	slacker	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
31	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	33	advmod	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
34	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	33	xcomp	_	_
35	round	round	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	round	round	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	conj	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	pillar	pillar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	at	at	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	furious	furious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	rate	rate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	with	with	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
48	chafing	chafe	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	47	acl	_	_
49	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
50	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	48	obj	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	conj	_	_
53	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	55	det:predet	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | parson | no power |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent power=Patient |
| 2 | **resist** | to-infinitive | parson *not said here* | no power *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **let** | past | parson |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **go** | infinitive | parson *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with parson's hands | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with hand=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **tug** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **tug** | participle |  |  |  |  | till the rope |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **hold** | past | the rope | parson |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 8 | **grow** | past |  | slacker and slacker |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location slacker=Theme |
| 9 | **go** | past | parson |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 10 | **dance** | gerund | parson *not said here* |  |  |  |  | round *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 11 | **round** | infinitive | parson *not said here* | the pillar |  | a furious rate |  | with the rope | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent pillar=Patient with rope=Instrument |
| 12 | **chafe** | gerund | the rope *not said here* | parson's hands and feet |  |  | time |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hand=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:** «Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk Tales», Project Gutenberg book 29672 (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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