---
title: But when cats make up their minds to do anything they generally DO i… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But when cats make up their minds to do anything they generally DO it; and this cat began to look about to see if there was really no way of getting at his ball. Who acts: cats, minds, cat, way. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29, with its dependency t
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But when cats make up their minds to do anything they generally DO it; and this cat began to look about to see if there was really no way of getting at his ball.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** cats, minds, cat, way, mountains · **What happens:** make up, do, begin, look, see, be · **To what, where:** minds, anything, crack, ball

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, 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 (cats, minds, cat, way), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg3282:29:25
# text = But when cats make up their minds to do anything they generally DO it; and this cat began to look about to see if there was really no way of getting at his ball.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
3	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	make	make	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	up	up	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	minds	mind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
10	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	9	obj	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	generally	generally	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	DO	do	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	det	_	_
18	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
25	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
26	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	27	expl	_	_
27	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	ccomp	_	_
28	really	really	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
29	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	30	det	_	_
30	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
31	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
32	getting	get	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	30	acl	_	_
33	at	at	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make up** | present | cats | mountains's minds |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | to-infinitive | mountains's minds *not said here* | anything |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent anything=Eventuality |
| 3 | **do** | present | minds *= mind* | crack |  |  |  | generally *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 4 | **begin** | past | this cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **look** | to-infinitive | this cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 6 | **see** | to-infinitive | this cat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | no way |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **get** | gerund | no way *not said here* |  |  | cat's ball |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 9 | **mind** |  | mountains *= mountain* |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=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 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.

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