---
title: They sprang quickly to their feet and began to sniff the soil round… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They sprang quickly to their feet and began to sniff the soil round the rock, in order to discover traces of his footsteps, and they galloped after him with terrific speed. Who acts: nyamatsanes. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 35, with its dependency tr
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 35, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They sprang quickly to their feet and began to sniff the soil round the rock, in order to discover traces of his footsteps, and they galloped after him with terrific speed.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** nyamatsanes · **What happens:** spring, begin, sniff, discover, gallop · **To what, where:** feet, soil, traces

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (nyamatsanes), 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:pg5615:35:20
# text = They sprang quickly to their feet and began to sniff the soil round the rock, in order to discover traces of his footsteps, and they galloped after him with terrific speed.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
8	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	sniff	sniff	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	soil	soil	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	round	round	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	in	in	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	20	mark	_	_
18	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	fixed	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	discover	discover	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
21	traces	trace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	footsteps	footstep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	galloped	gallop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
29	after	after	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	terrific	terrific	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spring** | past | nyamatsanes *= nyamatsane* |  |  | nyamatsanes's feet |  | quickly *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to foot=Destination |
| 2 | **begin** | past | nyamatsanes *= nyamatsane* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **sniff** | to-infinitive | nyamatsanes *= nyamatsane* *not said here* | the soil |  |  |  | round the rock | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent soil=Theme |
| 4 | **discover** | to-infinitive | nyamatsanes *= nyamatsane* *not said here* | traces of man's footsteps |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trace=Topic |
| 5 | **gallop** | past | nyamatsanes *= nyamatsane* |  |  |  | after man | with terrific speed | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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