--- title: Her tail dropped away or, rather, it divided and grew into two legs… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Her tail dropped away or, rather, it divided and grew into two legs and a pair of the prettiest feet in the world, while her maidens, who were grouped around her, shed their scales and became girls again. Who acts: tail. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 26, with it --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/26/38/) [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/) / [The Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/26/) / 38 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 26, sentence 38 Her tail dropped away or, rather, it divided and grew into two legs and a pair of the prettiest feet in the world, while her maidens, who were grouped around her, shed their scales and became girls again. **Who acts:** tail · **What happens:** drop away, divide, grow, group, shed, become · **To what, where:** maidens, two legs, scales, girls This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tail), 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:pg3027:26:38 # text = Her tail dropped away or, rather, it divided and grew into two legs and a pair of the prettiest feet in the world, while her maidens, who were grouped around her, shed their scales and became girls again. 1 Her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 2 nmod:poss _ _ 2 tail tail NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 dropped drop VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 away away ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 5 or or CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 7 rather rather ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 9 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 10 divided divide VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 grew grow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 13 into into ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 15 nummod _ _ 15 legs leg NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obl _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 pair pair NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 conj _ _ 19 of of ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 prettiest pretty ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 22 amod _ _ 22 feet foot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 nmod _ _ 23 in in ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 26 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 27 while while SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 28 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 29 nmod:poss _ _ 29 maidens maiden NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 31 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 33 nsubj _ _ 32 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 aux:pass _ _ 33 grouped group VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 29 acl:relcl _ _ 34 around around ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 35 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 37 shed shed VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 38 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 39 nmod:poss _ _ 39 scales scale NOUN NNS Number=Plur 37 obj _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 41 became become VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 42 girls girl NOUN NNS Number=Plur 41 xcomp _ _ 43 again again ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **drop away** | past | thing's tail | | | | | away *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **divide** | past | tail | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 3 | **grow** | past | thing's tail *not said here* | thing's maidens | | two legs and a pair of the prettiest feet | | in the world | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in world=Location | | 4 | **group** | past · passive | | thing's maidens | | | | around thing | vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 5 | **shed** | past | thing's tail *not said here* | maidens's scales | | | | | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location scale=Source | | 6 | **become** | past | thing's tail *not said here* | girls | | | again | | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | 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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/26/37/) - next →: [sentence 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/26/39/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/26/)