--- title: The mink stood up on his hind legs and began to dance, first in one… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The mink stood up on his hind legs and began to dance, first in one canoe and then in the other; and so graceful was he, that the wolves forgot they were going to put him to death, and howled with pleasure. Who acts: mink, wolves. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 3 --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/76/) [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 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/) / 76 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 34, sentence 76 The mink stood up on his hind legs and began to dance, first in one canoe and then in the other; and so graceful was he, that the wolves forgot they were going to put him to death, and howled with pleasure. **Who acts:** mink, wolves · **What happens:** stand up, begin, dance, be, forget, go · **To what, where:** hind legs, one canoe, Wolf · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mink, wolves), 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:pg3027:34:76 # text = The mink stood up on his hind legs and began to dance, first in one canoe and then in the other; and so graceful was he, that the wolves forgot they were going to put him to death, and howled with pleasure. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 mink mink NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 stood stand VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 up up ADP RP _ 3 compound:prt _ _ 5 on on ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 6 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 7 hind hind ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 legs leg NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obl _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 10 cc _ _ 10 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 dance dance VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 14 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 12 advmod _ _ 15 in in ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 16 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 17 nummod _ _ 17 canoe canoe NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 19 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 22 advmod _ _ 20 in in ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ; ; PUNCT : _ 26 punct _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 25 so so ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 26 graceful graceful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 parataxis _ _ 27 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 cop _ _ 28 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 30 that that SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 wolves wolf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 33 nsubj _ _ 33 forgot forget VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 conj _ _ 34 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 35 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 36 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 33 ccomp _ _ 37 to to PART TO _ 38 mark _ _ 38 put put VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 36 xcomp _ _ 39 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 obj _ _ 40 to to ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 death death NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 44 howled howl VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 45 with with ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 46 pleasure pleasure NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **stand up** | past | the mink | | | Wolf's hind legs | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on leg=Location | | 2 | **begin** | past | the mink *not said here* | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 3 | **dance** | to-infinitive | the mink *not said here* | | | one canoe | | first *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in canoe=Location | | 4 | **is a** | past | | Wolf | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **forget** | past | the wolves | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **go** | past · progressive | Mink | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 7 | **put** | to-infinitive | Mink *not said here* | | Wolf | | | to death | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent he=Goal | | 8 | **howl** | past | | | | | | with pleasure | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with pleasure=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:** «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 75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/75/) - next →: [sentence 77](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/77/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/)