--- title: I kept a tight grip of him, and I little knew whether he was going b… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: I kept a tight grip of him, and I little knew whether he was going backwards or forwards, or how long we were about it, till my hand was taken again, and I felt the ground under me. Who acts: I, infant, we. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6, with its d --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/6/97/) [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 Lilac Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/) / [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/6/) / 97 # The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 97 I kept a tight grip of him, and I little knew whether he was going backwards or forwards, or how long we were about it, till my hand was taken again, and I felt the ground under me. **Who acts:** I, infant, we · **What happens:** keep, know, go, be, take, feel · **To what, where:** tight grip, hand, ground, infant This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, infant, we), 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:pg3454:6:97 # text = I kept a tight grip of him, and I little knew whether he was going backwards or forwards, or how long we were about it, till my hand was taken again, and I felt the ground under me. 1 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 kept keep VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 4 tight tight ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 grip grip NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obj _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 10 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 11 little little ADV RB Degree=Pos 12 advmod _ _ 12 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 13 whether whether SCONJ IN _ 16 mark _ _ 14 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 aux _ _ 16 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 12 advcl _ _ 17 backwards backwards ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 18 or or CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 19 forwards forwards ADV RB _ 17 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 21 or or CCONJ CC _ 27 cc _ _ 22 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 23 advmod _ _ 23 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 27 advmod _ _ 24 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 25 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 27 cop _ _ 26 about about ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 29 till till SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 30 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 31 nmod:poss _ _ 31 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nsubj:pass _ _ 32 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 aux:pass _ _ 33 taken take VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 conj _ _ 34 again again ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 37 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 38 felt feel VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obj _ _ 41 under under ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 me I PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **keep** | past | I | a tight grip of infant | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent grip=Theme | | 2 | **know** | past | I | | | | | little *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 3 | **go** | past · progressive | infant | | | | | backwards *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **is** | past | we | | | | | about grip; long *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **take** | past · passive | | my hand | | | again | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme | | 6 | **feel** | past | I | the ground | | | | under me | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent ground=Theme under i=Location | | 7 | **grip** | | | infant | | | | | nom grip «act transitive»: of=patient | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 96](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/6/96/) - next →: [sentence 98](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/6/98/) - ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/6/)