---
title: So the crab caught hold of his neck with his claws as securely as wi… — Indian Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: So the crab caught hold of his neck with his claws as securely as with a pair of blacksmith's pincers, and called out, "Off with you, now!" Who acts: crab. A sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# Indian Fairy Tales, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 5, sentence 115

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the crab caught hold of his neck with his claws as securely as with a pair of blacksmith's pincers, and called out, "Off with you, now!"

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**Who acts:** crab · **What happens:** catch, call out, hold · **To what, where:** hold, neck

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This is a sentence of «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Demon With Matted Hair " 196, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (crab), 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:pg7128:11:115
# text = So the crab caught hold of his neck with his claws as securely as with a pair of blacksmith's pincers, and called out, "Off with you, now!"
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
12	as	as	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	securely	securely	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
14	as	as	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	pair	pair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	blacksmith	blacksmith	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	's	's	PART	POS	_	19	case	_	_
21	pincers	pincer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	Off	off	ADV	RB	_	24	parataxis	_	_
29	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **catch** | past | the crab | hold of crab's neck |  |  |  | with crab's claws; as a pair of blacksmith's pincers | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Theme |
| 2 | **call out** *speech: assert* | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **hold** |  |  | crab's neck |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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:** «Indian Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7128 (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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