--- title: He clung on with all his might to every rush and blade of grass, but… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: He clung on with all his might to every rush and blade of grass, but it didn’t help him much; he had to follow every movement of the fish, and was in great danger of being drawn into the water. Who acts: fish, creature. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Snow-white and Rose-red, wit --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/36/64/) [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 Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [Snow-white and Rose-red](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/36/) / 64 # The Blue Fairy Book, Snow-white and Rose-red, sentence 64 He clung on with all his might to every rush and blade of grass, but it didn’t help him much; he had to follow every movement of the fish, and was in great danger of being drawn into the water. **Who acts:** fish, creature · **What happens:** cling on, not help, have, follow, be, draw · **To what, where:** fish, movement, great danger, water This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Snow-white and Rose-red. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fish, creature), 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:pg503:36:64 # text = He clung on with all his might to every rush and blade of grass, but it didn’t help him much; he had to follow every movement of the fish, and was in great danger of being drawn into the water. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 clung cling VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 on on ADP RP _ 2 compound:prt _ _ 4 with with ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 5 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 10 det:predet _ _ 6 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 10 nmod:poss _ _ 7 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 10 aux _ _ 8 to to ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 10 det _ _ 10 rush rush NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 12 blade blade NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 conj _ _ 13 of of ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 grass grass NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 16 but but CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 17 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 18 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 aux _ SpaceAfter=No 19 n’t not PART RB Polarity=Neg 20 advmod _ _ 20 help help VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 2 advcl _ _ 21 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 obj _ _ 22 much much ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ; ; PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 26 to to PART TO _ 27 mark _ _ 27 follow follow VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 25 xcomp _ _ 28 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 29 det _ _ 29 movement movement NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obj _ _ 30 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 fish fish NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 cop _ _ 36 in in ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 37 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 38 amod _ _ 38 danger danger NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ _ 39 of of SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 40 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 41 aux:pass _ _ 41 drawn draw VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 38 acl _ _ 42 into into ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 43 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **cling on** | past | fish | | | | | with fish's rush and blade of grass | vn cling-22.5 «NP V PP.co-theme»: agent=Theme with rush=Co-Theme | | 2 | **not** **help** | past · do-support | creature | | fish | | | | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary | | 3 | **have** | past | fish | | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **follow** | to-infinitive | fish *not said here* | every movement of the fish | | | | | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent movement=Theme | | 5 | **is** | past | | | | great danger | | | tree rules | | 6 | **draw** | gerund · passive | | great danger *not said here* | | | | into the water *result* | vn lure-59.3 «NP V NP S\_ING»: into water=Result | | 7 | **rush** | | fish | | | | | | nom rush «act transitive»: poss=agent | | 8 | **move** | | | the fish | | | | | nom movement «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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/36/63/) - next →: [sentence 65](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/36/65/) - ↑ back to [Snow-white and Rose-red](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/36/)