---
title: The lower part of it was un-twist-ed; some of the strands were broke… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: The lower part of it was un-twist-ed; some of the strands were broken; it became so short that only a tall man could reach it. Who acts: lower part, part, tall man. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, The Bell of Atri., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/25/24/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [Fifty Famous Stories Retold](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/) / [The Bell of Atri.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/25/) / 24

# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, The Bell of Atri., sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The lower part of it was un-twist-ed; some of the strands were broken; it became so short that only a tall man could reach it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** lower part, part, tall man · **What happens:** be, break, become, reach · **To what, where:** some, part

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, The Bell of Atri.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lower part, part, tall man), 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:pg18442:25:24
# text = The lower part of it was un-twist-ed; some of the strands were broken; it became so short that only a tall man could reach it.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	lower	low	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	amod	_	_
3	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nmod	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	un-twist-ed	un-twist-ed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	14	punct	_	_
9	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	strands	strand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	_
13	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
21	only	only	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the lower part of place |  |  |  |  | un-twist-ed *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **break** | past · passive |  | some |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 3 | **become** | past | part |  |  |  |  | short *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **reach** | could | a tall man | part |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent it=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.

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 18442 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/25/23/)
- next →: [sentence 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/25/25/)
- ↑ back to [The Bell of Atri.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/25/)