---
title: If she wanted wood, he would break the branches off the trees and la… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If she wanted wood, he would break the branches off the trees and lay them at her feet. Who acts: bride, buffalo. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 21, sentence 48

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If she wanted wood, he would break the branches off the trees and lay them at her feet.

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**Who acts:** bride, buffalo · **What happens:** want, break, lay · **To what, where:** wood, branches, feet

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bride, buffalo), 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:pg3027:21:48
# text = If she wanted wood, he would break the branches off the trees and lay them at her feet.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
4	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	off	off	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | bride | wood |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot wood=Theme |
| 2 | **break** | would | buffalo | the branches |  |  |  | off the trees | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: agent=Agent branch=Patient off tree=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **lay** | infinitive | buffalo *not said here* | branches *= branch* |  | bride's feet |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme at foot=Destination |

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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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