---
title: There was a desperate clutching of the claws to the earth, a slow fl… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: There was a desperate clutching of the claws to the earth, a slow flagging of the great wings, then the monster rolled over on his side and moved no more. Who acts: desperate clutching, monster. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 29, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 29, sentence 71

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There was a desperate clutching of the claws to the earth, a slow flagging of the great wings, then the monster rolled over on his side and moved no more.

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**Who acts:** desperate clutching, monster · **What happens:** be, roll over, move · **To what, where:** side, more

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (desperate clutching, monster), 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:pg3027:29:71
# text = There was a desperate clutching of the claws to the earth, a slow flagging of the great wings, then the monster rolled over on his side and moved no more.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	desperate	desperate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	clutching	clutching	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	flagging	flagging	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	24	advmod	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	monster	monster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	rolled	roll	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
25	over	over	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	moved	move	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
31	no	no	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a desperate clutching of the claws to the earth and a slow flagging of the great wings |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **roll over** | past | the monster |  |  | prince's side | then | over *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on side=Trajectory |
| 3 | **move** | past | the monster *not said here* | more |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent more=Theme |

<!-- .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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