---
title: Crabs of monstrous size spun round and round on one claw with the ni… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Crabs of monstrous size spun round and round on one claw with the nimbleness of a dancing master, and twirled and tossed their other claws about like limbs that did not belong to them. Who acts: limbs. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18, with its depen
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18, sentence 34

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Crabs of monstrous size spun round and round on one claw with the nimbleness of a dancing master, and twirled and tossed their other claws about like limbs that did not belong to them.

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**Who acts:** limbs · **What happens:** spin, twirl, toss, not belong · **To what, where:** monstrous size, one claw, Crabs, other claws

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (limbs), 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:pg3454:18:34
# text = Crabs of monstrous size spun round and round on one claw with the nimbleness of a dancing master, and twirled and tossed their other claws about like limbs that did not belong to them.
1	Crabs	crab	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	monstrous	monstrous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	size	size	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
5	spun	spin	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	round	round	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	round	round	ADV	RB	_	6	conj	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	claw	claw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	nimbleness	nimbleness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	dancing	dancing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	twirled	twirl	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	tossed	toss	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
25	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obj	_	_
27	about	about	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
28	like	like	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	limbs	limb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	conj	_	_
30	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	33	nsubj	_	_
31	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	33	advmod	_	_
33	belong	belong	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	acl:relcl	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	21	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spin** | participle |  | monstrous size *not said here* |  | one claw with the nimbleness of a dancing master |  | round *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme on claw=Trajectory |
| 2 | **twirl** | participle · passive |  | Crabs of monstrous size |  |  |  |  | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: subject=Material |
| 3 | **toss** | past |  | Crabs's other claws and limbs |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent claw=Patient |
| 4 | **not** **belong** | past · do-support | limbs |  | Crabs *= crab* |  |  |  | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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