--- title: In an instant Elsa knew that she was turning into a bird: wings spra… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: In an instant Elsa knew that she was turning into a bird: wings sprang from beneath her arms; her feet were the feet of eagles, with long claws; her nose curved itself into a sharp beak, and feathers covered her body. Who acts: Elsa, wings, feet, nose. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/171/) [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 Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [A Tale of the Tontlawald](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/) / 171 # The Violet Fairy Book, A Tale of the Tontlawald, sentence 171 In an instant Elsa knew that she was turning into a bird: wings sprang from beneath her arms; her feet were the feet of eagles, with long claws; her nose curved itself into a sharp beak, and feathers covered her body. **Who acts:** Elsa, wings, feet, nose, feathers · **What happens:** know, turn, sprang, be, curve, cover · **To what, where:** instant, arms, feet, nose, sharp beak, body · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, A Tale of the Tontlawald. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Elsa, wings, feet, nose), 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:pg641:2:171 # text = In an instant Elsa knew that she was turning into a bird: wings sprang from beneath her arms; her feet were the feet of eagles, with long claws; her nose curved itself into a sharp beak, and feathers covered her body. 1 In in ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 instant instant NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 4 Elsa Elsa PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 5 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 that that SCONJ IN _ 9 mark _ _ 7 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 8 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 9 turning turn VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 ccomp _ _ 10 into into ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 : : PUNCT : _ 15 punct _ _ 14 wings wing NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nsubj _ _ 15 sprang sprang VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 16 from from ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 17 beneath beneath ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 18 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 19 nmod:poss _ _ 19 arms arm NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 ; ; PUNCT : _ 25 punct _ _ 21 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 22 feet foot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 nsubj _ _ 23 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 cop _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 feet foot NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obl _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 eagles eagle NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 with with ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 claws claw NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 ; ; PUNCT : _ 35 punct _ _ 33 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 34 nmod:poss _ _ 34 nose nose NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nsubj _ _ 35 curved curve VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 parataxis _ _ 36 itself itself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 35 obj _ _ 37 into into ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 sharp sharp ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 beak beak NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 43 feathers feather NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 nsubj _ _ 44 covered cover VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 conj _ _ 45 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 46 nmod:poss _ _ 46 body body NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **know** | past | Elsa | | | a instant | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **turn** | past · progressive | Elsa | | | | | into a bird *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme into bird=Result | | 3 | **sprang** | present | wings | | | Elsa's arms | | | tree rules | | 4 | **is a** | past | Elsa's feet | the feet and long claws | | | | of eagles | tree rules | | 5 | **curve** | past | Elsa's nose | nose | | a sharp beak | | | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent itself=Material into beak=Product | | 6 | **cover** | past | feathers | Elsa's body | | | | | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme body=Destination | 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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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 170](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/170/) - next →: [sentence 172](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/172/) - ↑ back to [A Tale of the Tontlawald](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/2/)