--- title: This was exactly what the cunning creature wanted, and he wriggled g… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: This was exactly what the cunning creature wanted, and he wriggled gently to the front and bit the cord which tied the sledge to the one before it so that it remained standing in the middle of the road. Who acts: This, cunning creature, creature, cord. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/26/58/) [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 Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/26/) / 58 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 26, sentence 58 This was exactly what the cunning creature wanted, and he wriggled gently to the front and bit the cord which tied the sledge to the one before it so that it remained standing in the middle of the road. **Who acts:** This, cunning creature, creature, cord, sledge · **What happens:** be, want, wriggle, bite, tie, remain · **To what, where:** cord, sledge, one, middle This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, 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 (This, cunning creature, creature, cord), 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:pg3282:26:58 # text = This was exactly what the cunning creature wanted, and he wriggled gently to the front and bit the cord which tied the sledge to the one before it so that it remained standing in the middle of the road. 1 This this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 4 nsubj _ _ 2 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 exactly exactly ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 0 root _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 cunning cunning ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 creature creature NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 8 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 11 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 wriggled wriggle VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 13 gently gently ADV RB _ 12 advmod _ _ 14 to to ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 front front NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 18 bit bite VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 cord cord NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ _ 21 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 22 nsubj _ _ 22 tied tie VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 acl:relcl _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 sledge sledge NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obj _ _ 25 to to ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ _ 28 before before ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 29 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 obl _ _ 30 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 33 mark _ _ 31 that that SCONJ IN _ 30 fixed _ _ 32 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 remained remain VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 advcl _ _ 34 standing stand VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 33 xcomp _ _ 35 in in ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 middle middle NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 38 of of ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 road road NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 41 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | past | This | | | | | exactly *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **want** | past | the cunning creature | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot | | 3 | **wriggle** | past | creature | | | | | to the front; gently *property* | vn body\_internal\_motion-49.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **bite** | past | the cunning creature *not said here* | the cord | | | | | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cord=Patient | | 5 | **tie** | past | the cord | the sledge | the one | | before sledge | | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent sledge=Patient to one=Co-Patient | | 6 | **remain** | past | sledge | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **stand** | gerund | sledge *not said here* | | | the middle of the road | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in middle=Location | 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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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 57](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/26/57/) - next →: [sentence 59](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/26/59/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 26](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/26/)