---
title: The chains that held my left leg were about two yards long, and gave… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The chains that held my left leg were about two yards long, and gave me not only freedom to walk backward and forward in a semicircle, but to creep in and lie at full length inside the temple. Who acts: chains. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter I, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter I, sentence 68

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The chains that held my left leg were about two yards long, and gave me not only freedom to walk backward and forward in a semicircle, but to creep in and lie at full length inside the temple.

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**Who acts:** chains · **What happens:** hold, be, give, walk, creep in, lie · **To what, where:** left leg, freedom, me, semicircle, full length

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter I. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (chains), 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:pg503:43:68
# text = The chains that held my left leg were about two yards long, and gave me not only freedom to walk backward and forward in a semicircle, but to creep in and lie at full length inside the temple.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	chains	chain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
3	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	4	nsubj	_	_
4	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	acl:relcl	_	_
5	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
6	left	left	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
9	about	about	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	11	nummod	_	_
11	yards	yard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl:unmarked	_	_
12	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
16	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
18	only	only	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	freedom	freedom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
22	backward	backward	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	22	conj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	semicircle	semicircle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	creep	creep	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	12	parataxis	_	_
32	in	in	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	lie	lie	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	_
35	at	at	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
38	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	temple	temple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | past | the chains | my left leg |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent leg=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | the chains |  |  |  |  | two yards *obl:unmarked*; long *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **give** | past | the chains *not said here* | freedom | me |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent i=Recipient freedom=Theme |
| 4 | **walk** | to-infinitive | the chains *not said here* |  |  | a semicircle |  | backward *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in semicircle=Trajectory |
| 5 | **creep in** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **lie** | infinitive |  |  |  | full length inside the temple |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at length=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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