---
title: Then an ugly sea-cat threw itself down from some tree, with its wind… — Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains · tree and pragmatics
description: Then an ugly sea-cat threw itself down from some tree, with its winding tail twisted around some branch, ground the teeth with a horrid grin, and sprang back into the thick foliage. Who acts: ugly sea cat, winding tail. A sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legend
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg74323/15/72/)

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# Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains, Legends and Tales., part 14, sentence 72

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Then an ugly sea-cat threw itself down from some tree, with its winding tail twisted around some branch, ground the teeth with a horrid grin, and sprang back into the thick foliage.

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**Who acts:** ugly sea cat, winding tail · **What happens:** throw down, twist, spring back · **To what, where:** cat, tree, teeth, branch, thick foliage

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This is a sentence of «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Legends and Tales., part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (ugly sea cat, winding tail), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg74323:15:72
# text = Then an ugly sea-cat threw itself down from some tree, with its winding tail twisted around some branch, ground the teeth with a horrid grin, and sprang back into the thick foliage.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
2	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
3	ugly	ugly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
4	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	7	obj	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
12	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
16	winding	winding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	_
18	twisted	twist	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	acl	_	_
19	around	around	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	21	det	_	_
21	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	conj	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
26	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	horrid	horrid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	grin	grin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
33	back	back	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
34	into	into	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	foliage	foliage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw down** | past | a ugly sea cat | cat |  | some tree | then | cat's winding tail *conj* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent itself=Theme from tree=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **twist** | participle | cat's winding tail *not said here* | the teeth |  | some branch and ground |  | with a horrid grin | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme around branch=Trajectory |
| 3 | **spring back** | past | a ugly sea cat *not said here* |  |  | the thick foliage |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into foliage=Destination |

<!-- .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:** «Legends and tales of the Harz Mountains» by Toofie Lauder, Project Gutenberg book 74323 (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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