--- title: Before he had finished speaking, the herdboy put his pipe to his lip… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Before he had finished speaking, the herdboy put his pipe to his lips and played a few low notes that sounded like a bird singing far off in the woods; and as he played, Tattercoats' rags were changed to shining robes sewn with glittering jewels, a golden crown lay upon her golden hair, and the floc --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/21/9/) [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/) / [More English Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/) / [More English Fairy Tales, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/21/) / 9 # More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 7, sentence 9 Before he had finished speaking, the herdboy put his pipe to his lips and played a few low notes that sounded like a bird singing far off in the woods; and as he played, Tattercoats' rags were changed to shining robes sewn with glittering jewels, a golden crown lay upon her golden hair, and the flock of geese behind her, became a crowd of dainty pages, bearing her long train. **Who acts:** Father, herdboy, few low notes, bird, golden crown, flock · **What happens:** finish, speak, put, play, sound, sing · **To what, where:** pipe, few low notes, woods, rags, robes, golden hair · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Father, herdboy, few low notes, bird), 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:pg14241:21:9 # text = Before he had finished speaking, the herdboy put his pipe to his lips and played a few low notes that sounded like a bird singing far off in the woods; and as he played, Tattercoats' rags were changed to shining robes sewn with glittering jewels, a golden crown lay upon her golden hair, and the flock of geese behind her, became a crowd of dainty pages, bearing her long train. 1 Before before SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 finished finish VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 9 advcl _ _ 5 speaking speak VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 4 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 herdboy herdboy NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 9 put put VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 10 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 pipe pipe NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 12 to to ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 lips lip NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 obl _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 16 played play VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 18 few few ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 19 low low ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 notes note NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obj _ _ 21 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 22 nsubj _ _ 22 sounded sound VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 acl:relcl _ _ 23 like like ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ _ 26 singing sing VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 25 acl _ _ 27 far far ADV RB Degree=Pos 28 advmod _ _ 28 off off ADV RB _ 26 advmod _ _ 29 in in ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 30 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 31 woods wood NOUN NNS Number=Plur 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 32 ; ; PUNCT : _ 42 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 34 as as SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 36 played play VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 38 Tattercoats tattercoat NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 39 ' 's PART POS _ 38 case _ _ 40 rags rag NOUN NNS Number=Plur 42 nsubj _ _ 41 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 aux:pass _ _ 42 changed change VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 9 conj _ _ 43 to to SCONJ IN _ 44 mark _ _ 44 shining shine VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 42 advcl _ _ 45 robes robe NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 obj _ _ 46 sewn sew VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 45 acl _ _ 47 with with ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 glittering glittering NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 compound _ _ 49 jewels jewel NOUN NNS Number=Plur 46 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 54 punct _ _ 51 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 52 golden golden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 53 amod _ _ 53 crown crown NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 nsubj _ _ 54 lay lie VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 42 parataxis _ _ 55 upon upon ADP IN _ 58 case _ _ 56 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 58 nmod:poss _ _ 57 golden golden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 58 amod _ _ 58 hair hair NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 59 , , PUNCT , _ 68 punct _ _ 60 and and CCONJ CC _ 68 cc _ _ 61 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 62 det _ _ 62 flock flock NOUN NN Number=Sing 68 nsubj _ _ 63 of of ADP IN _ 64 case _ _ 64 geese goose NOUN NNS Number=Plur 62 nmod _ _ 65 behind behind ADP IN _ 66 case _ _ 66 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 64 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 67 , , PUNCT , _ 62 punct _ _ 68 became become VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 54 conj _ _ 69 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 70 det _ _ 70 crowd crowd NOUN NN Number=Sing 68 xcomp _ _ 71 of of ADP IN _ 73 case _ _ 72 dainty dainty NOUN NN Number=Sing 73 compound _ _ 73 pages page NOUN NNS Number=Plur 70 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 74 , , PUNCT , _ 75 punct _ _ 75 bearing bear VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 68 advcl _ _ 76 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 78 nmod:poss _ _ 77 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 78 amod _ _ 78 train train NOUN NN Number=Sing 75 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 79 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **finish** | past · perfect | Father | | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | gerund | Father *not said here* | | | | | | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **put** | past | the herdboy | Father's pipe | | | | to Father's lips | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent pipe=Goal | | 4 | **play** | past | the herdboy *not said here* | a few low notes | | | | | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent note=Theme | | 5 | **sound** | past | a few low notes | | | | | like a bird | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 6 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund | a bird *not said here* | | | the woods | | off *property* | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in wood=Location | | 7 | **play** | past | Father | | | | | | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **change** | past · passive | | Tattercoats's rags | | | | | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 9 | **shine** | gerund | | robes | | | | | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent robe=Theme | | 10 | **sew** | participle | | robes *not said here* | | | | with glittering jewels | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent with jewel=Co-Patient | | 11 | **lie** | past | a golden crown | | | bird's golden hair | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent upon hair=Location | | 12 | **become** | past | the flock of geese behind bird | a crowd of dainty pages | | | | | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient | | 13 | **bear** | gerund | the flock of geese behind bird *not said here* | flock's long train | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent train=Patient | 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:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (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 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/21/8/) - next →: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/21/10/) - ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/21/)