---
title: They were so stiff and hard that he nearly shrieked every step he to… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They were so stiff and hard that he nearly shrieked every step he took, and at last he sank down where he was, and actually began to cry. Who acts: Stories, panther. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 17, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/17/116/)

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 17, sentence 116

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They were so stiff and hard that he nearly shrieked every step he took, and at last he sank down where he was, and actually began to cry.

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**Who acts:** Stories, panther · **What happens:** be, shriek, take, sink down, begin, cry · **To what, where:** step, last

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Stories, panther), 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:pg3027:17:116
# text = They were so stiff and hard that he nearly shrieked every step he took, and at last he sank down where he was, and actually began to cry.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	stiff	stiff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	shrieked	shriek	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
11	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	sank	sink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
21	down	down	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	_
22	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	24	advmod	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	cry	cry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Stories *= story* |  |  |  |  | stiff *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** |  | Stories *= story* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **shriek** | past | panther | every step |  |  |  | nearly *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location step=Theme |
| 4 | **take** | past | panther | every step *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent step=Theme |
| 5 | **sink down** | past | panther |  |  | last |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **be** | past | panther |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **begin** | past |  |  |  |  |  | actually *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 8 | **cry** *speech: express* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: 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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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