---
title: He quickly unfastened the cord to get loose from the big sledge, but… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He quickly unfastened the cord to get loose from the big sledge, but it was of no use; his little sledge hung on fast, and it went on like the wind. Who acts: snow, cord. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of e
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 107

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He quickly unfastened the cord to get loose from the big sledge, but it was of no use; his little sledge hung on fast, and it went on like the wind.

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**Who acts:** snow, cord · **What happens:** unfasten, get, be, hang, go on · **To what, where:** cord, little sledge, fast

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (snow, cord), 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:pg5615:8:107
# text = He quickly unfastened the cord to get loose from the big sledge, but it was of no use; his little sledge hung on fast, and it went on like the wind.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	unfastened	unfasten	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
8	loose	loose	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	sledge	sledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	19	det	_	_
19	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
22	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	sledge	sledge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	conj	_	_
24	hung	hang	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	acl	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	fast	fast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	RP	_	30	compound:prt	_	_
32	like	like	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **unfasten** | past | snow | the cord |  |  |  | quickly *property* | vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cord=Patient |
| 2 | **get** | to-infinitive | snow *not said here* |  |  |  |  | loose *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | past | cord |  |  |  |  | of no use and snow's little sledge | tree rules |
| 4 | **hang** | participle |  | snow's little sledge *not said here* |  | fast |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on fast=Location |
| 5 | **go on** | past | cord |  |  |  |  | like the wind | vn function-105.2.1 «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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