---
title: The first thing he did when he reached his native country was to has… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The first thing he did when he reached his native country was to hasten to the mill, where he found the three twigs as the sparrow had told him. Who acts: prince, first thing. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 9, with its dependency tree and the prag
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 9, sentence 54

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The first thing he did when he reached his native country was to hasten to the mill, where he found the three twigs as the sparrow had told him.

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**Who acts:** prince, first thing · **What happens:** do, reach, be, find, tell · **To what, where:** first thing, native country, three twigs, sparrow, prince · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, first thing), 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:pg2435:9:54
# text = The first thing he did when he reached his native country was to hasten to the mill, where he found the three twigs as the sparrow had told him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
6	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	8	mark	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
10	native	native	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	hasten	hasten	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	21	advmod	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	24	nummod	_	_
24	twigs	twig	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
25	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	sparrow	sparrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	advcl	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | prince | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 2 | **reach** | past | prince | prince's native country |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent country=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | the first thing |  |  |  |  | to the mill; hasten *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **find** | past | prince | the three twigs |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent twig=Topic |
| 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · passive |  | the sparrow | prince |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient he=Topic |

<!-- .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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