---
title: First he hopped on one foot and then on the other, but he was so sti… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: First he hopped on one foot and then on the other, but he was so stiff and so nervous that he made but a poor attempt, and after a time sank down on the ground and vowed he could dance no more. Who acts: despair. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarf
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs, sentence 51

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
First he hopped on one foot and then on the other, but he was so stiff and so nervous that he made but a poor attempt, and after a time sank down on the ground and vowed he could dance no more.

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**Who acts:** despair · **What happens:** hop, be, make, sink down, vow, dance · **To what, where:** one foot, poor attempt, ground, more

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (despair), 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:pg7277:31:51
# text = First he hopped on one foot and then on the other, but he was so stiff and so nervous that he made but a poor attempt, and after a time sank down on the ground and vowed he could dance no more.
1	First	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	hopped	hop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	stiff	stiff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	nervous	nervous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	conj	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	attempt	attempt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	after	after	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
33	sank	sink	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	advcl	_	_
34	down	down	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	_
35	on	on	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	vowed	vow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
40	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	ccomp	_	_
43	no	no	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	42	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hop** | past | despair |  |  | one foot |  | first *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on foot=Trajectory |
| 2 | **is** | past | despair |  |  |  |  | stiff *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | despair *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **make** | past | despair | a poor attempt |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **sink down** | participle | despair *not said here* |  |  | the ground | time |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **vow** | past | despair *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **dance** | could | despair | more |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location more=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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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