---
title: Scarcely had the first notes sounded than the hangman and his helper… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Scarcely had the first notes sounded than the hangman and his helper began to dance, and the louder grew the music the higher they capered, till at last they cried for mercy. Who acts: Scarcely, first notes, helper, notes. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 57

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Scarcely had the first notes sounded than the hangman and his helper began to dance, and the louder grew the music the higher they capered, till at last they cried for mercy.

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**Who acts:** Scarcely, first notes, helper, notes · **What happens:** have, sound, begin, dance, grow, caper · **To what, where:** music

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, 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 (Scarcely, first notes, helper, notes), 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:pg2435:14:57
# text = Scarcely had the first notes sounded than the hangman and his helper began to dance, and the louder grew the music the higher they capered, till at last they cried for mercy.
1	Scarcely	Scarcely	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	amod	_	_
5	notes	note	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	sounded	sound	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	than	than	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hangman	hangman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	helper	helper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	louder	loud	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	20	advmod	_	_
20	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	music	music	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	higher	high	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	20	obl	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	capered	caper	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	till	till	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	mercy	mercy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | Scarcely |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sound** | past | the first notes |  |  |  |  | than the hangman | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **begin** | past | king's helper |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **dance** | to-infinitive | king's helper *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **grow** | past |  | the music |  |  |  | the higher *obl* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location music=Theme |
| 6 | **caper** | past | notes *= note* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | notes *= note* |  |  |  |  | for mercy | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for mercy=Recipient |

<!-- .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 Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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