---
title: It is my father's axe you are sitting on, and I must take it back as… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It is my father's axe you are sitting on, and I must take it back as fast as I can, or I shall get a terrible scolding from my stepmother.' Who acts: nest, you, I. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 12, sentence 34

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It is my father's axe you are sitting on, and I must take it back as fast as I can, or I shall get a terrible scolding from my stepmother.'

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**Who acts:** nest, you, I · **What happens:** be, sit on, take back, get · **To what, where:** axe, nest, terrible scolding

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (nest, you, I), 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:pg3027:12:34
# text = It is my father's axe you are sitting on, and I must take it back as fast as I can, or I shall get a terrible scolding from my stepmother.'
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	axe	axe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	acl:relcl	_	_
10	on	on	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	back	back	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
18	as	as	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	15	advmod	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	scolding	scolding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	stepmother	stepmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | nest | my father's axe |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **sit on** | present · progressive | you | my father's axe *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location axe=Theme |
| 3 | **take back** | must | I | nest |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **get** | shall | I | a terrible scolding |  |  |  | from my stepmother | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent scolding=Theme from stepmother=Source |

<!-- .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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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