---
title: Then the lindorm began to writhe, and groan, and breathe heavily; an… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the lindorm began to writhe, and groan, and breathe heavily; and after a little he had cast his outer skin, which lay on the floor, hideous to behold. Who acts: lindorm, sun, outer skin. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 33, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 33, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the lindorm began to writhe, and groan, and breathe heavily; and after a little he had cast his outer skin, which lay on the floor, hideous to behold.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** lindorm, sun, outer skin · **What happens:** begin, writhe, groan, breathe, cast, lie · **To what, where:** outer skin, floor

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lindorm, sun, outer skin), 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:pg5615:33:24
# text = Then the lindorm began to writhe, and groan, and breathe heavily; and after a little he had cast his outer skin, which lay on the floor, hideous to behold.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	lindorm	lindorm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	writhe	writhe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	groan	groan	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	breathe	breathe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
13	heavily	heavily	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
16	after	after	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	little	little	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	cast	cast	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
23	outer	outer	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
27	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	hideous	hideous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	behold	behold	INTJ	UH	_	32	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | the lindorm |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **writhe** | to-infinitive | the lindorm *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn body\_internal\_states-40.6 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **groan** | infinitive | the lindorm *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **breathe** | infinitive | the lindorm *not said here* |  |  |  |  | heavily *property* | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **cast** | past · perfect | sun | sun's outer skin |  |  | after a little |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent skin=Product |
| 6 | **lie** | past | sun's outer skin |  |  | the floor |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on floor=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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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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