---
title: On the very eve of the wedding a man pushing a wheelbarrow arrived a… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: On the very eve of the wedding a man pushing a wheelbarrow arrived at the city gate, and paid toll upon a barrel of nails which it contained, and then made the best of his way to the bride’s dwelling and knocked at the door. Who acts: man, barrel, best. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andr
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 17, sentence 22

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
On the very eve of the wedding a man pushing a wheelbarrow arrived at the city gate, and paid toll upon a barrel of nails which it contained, and then made the best of his way to the bride’s dwelling and knocked at the door.

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**Who acts:** man, barrel, best · **What happens:** push, arrive, pay, contain, make, dwell · **To what, where:** wheelbarrow, city gate, toll, eve, best

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, barrel, best), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg2435:17:22
# text = On the very eve of the wedding a man pushing a wheelbarrow arrived at the city gate, and paid toll upon a barrel of nails which it contained, and then made the best of his way to the bride’s dwelling and knocked at the door.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	very	very	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	eve	eve	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	wedding	wedding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
10	pushing	push	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	9	acl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	wheelbarrow	wheelbarrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	_
17	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	paid	pay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
21	toll	toll	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
22	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	barrel	barrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	nails	nail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	_
27	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	contained	contain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	33	advmod	_	_
33	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	33	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	to	to	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	bride	bride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
43	dwelling	dwell	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	42	xcomp	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	knocked	knock	VERB	VBD	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	conj	_	_
46	at	at	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **push** | gerund | a man *not said here* | a wheelbarrow |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wheelbarrow=Theme |
| 2 | **arrive** | participle |  | a wheelbarrow *not said here* |  | the city gate |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **pay** | past |  | toll |  | the eve of the wedding |  | upon a barrel of nails | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent toll=Asset |
| 4 | **contain** | past | a barrel of nails |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 5 | **make** | past |  | the best |  |  | then |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset good=Product |
| 6 | **dwell** | gerund | the best *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **knock** | past | the best *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at the door | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at door=Patient |

<!-- .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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