---
title: In an instant he felt a cat’s claw give his hand quite a sharp scrat… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In an instant he felt a cat’s claw give his hand quite a sharp scratch, and hoping that it was meant as an encouragement he opened the millet seed, and drew out of it a piece of muslin four hundred ells long, woven with the loveliest colors and most wonderful patterns; and when the needle was brough
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The White Cat, part 2, sentence 30

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In an instant he felt a cat’s claw give his hand quite a sharp scratch, and hoping that it was meant as an encouragement he opened the millet seed, and drew out of it a piece of muslin four hundred ells long, woven with the loveliest colors and most wonderful patterns; and when the needle was brought it went through the eye six times with the greatest ease!

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**Who acts:** King, claw, needle · **What happens:** feel, give, hope, mean, open, draw out · **To what, where:** instant, hand, claw, millet seed, piece, needle

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The White Cat, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, claw, needle), 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:pg503:24:30
# text = In an instant he felt a cat’s claw give his hand quite a sharp scratch, and hoping that it was meant as an encouragement he opened the millet seed, and drew out of it a piece of muslin four hundred ells long, woven with the loveliest colors and most wonderful patterns; and when the needle was brought it went through the eye six times with the greatest ease!
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	’s	's	PART	POS	_	7	case	_	_
9	claw	claw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	quite	quite	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	16	det:predet	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	scratch	scratch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	hoping	hope	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	meant	mean	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	acl	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	encouragement	encouragement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	acl:relcl	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	millet	millet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
35	out	out	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	obl	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	piece	piece	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	muslin	muslin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	_
42	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	43	compound	_	_
43	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	44	nummod	_	_
44	ells	ell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	obl:unmarked	_	_
45	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
47	woven	weave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	39	acl	_	_
48	with	with	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	loveliest	lovely	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	51	amod	_	_
51	colors	color	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obl	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
53	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	54	advmod	_	_
54	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	patterns	pattern	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	62	punct	_	_
57	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	62	cc	_	_
58	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	62	advmod	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	needle	needle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nsubj:pass	_	_
61	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	62	aux:pass	_	_
62	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	64	advcl	_	_
63	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	64	nsubj	_	_
64	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
65	through	through	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
66	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
67	eye	eye	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obl	_	_
68	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	69	nummod	_	_
69	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	64	obl:unmarked	_	_
70	with	with	ADP	IN	_	73	case	_	_
71	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	73	det	_	_
72	greatest	great	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	73	amod	_	_
73	ease	ease	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **feel** | past | King |  |  | a instant |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-2 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **give** | infinitive | a cat's claw | King's hand |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent hand=Recipient scratch=Theme |
| 3 | **hope** | gerund | King *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 4 | **mean** | past · passive |  | claw |  |  |  | as a encouragement | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Topic as encouragement=Attribute |
| 5 | **open** | past | King | the millet seed |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location seed=Theme |
| 6 | **draw out** | past | King *not said here* | claw |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4-1-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent piece=Beneficiary it=Result |
| 7 | **weave** | participle |  | a piece of muslin *not said here* |  |  |  | with the loveliest colors and wonderful patterns | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **bring** | past · passive |  | the needle |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: subject=Theme |
| 9 | **go** | past | needle |  |  | the eye | time | with the greatest ease | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through eye=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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