---
title: The youngest son fell to the bottom of the river’s bed: luckily it w… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The youngest son fell to the bottom of the river’s bed: luckily it was nearly dry, but his bones were almost broken, and the bank was so steep that he could find no way to get out. Who acts: youngest son, river, bank, son. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Golden Bird, with its
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Golden Bird, sentence 72

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The youngest son fell to the bottom of the river’s bed: luckily it was nearly dry, but his bones were almost broken, and the bank was so steep that he could find no way to get out.

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**Who acts:** youngest son, river, bank, son · **What happens:** fall, be, break, find, get out · **To what, where:** bones, way

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Golden Bird. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (youngest son, river, bank, son), 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:pg2591:2:72
# text = The youngest son fell to the bottom of the river’s bed: luckily it was nearly dry, but his bones were almost broken, and the bank was so steep that he could find no way to get out.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	amod	_	_
3	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	bed	bed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
14	luckily	luckily	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	bones	bone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
24	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
31	so	so	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	steep	steep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	parataxis	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
35	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	advcl	_	_
37	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	38	det	_	_
38	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	acl	_	_
41	out	out	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | past | the youngest son |  |  |  |  | to the bottom of the river's bed | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to bottom=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | river |  |  |  |  | dry, luckily, nearly *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **break** | past · passive |  | son's bones |  |  |  | almost *property* | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **is** | past | the bank |  |  |  |  | steep *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **find** | could | son | no way |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Topic |
| 6 | **get out** | to-infinitive | son *not said here* | no way *not said here* |  |  |  | out *property* | vn withdraw-82-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (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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