---
title: The way, though rough and stony, seemed all too short, and when they… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The way, though rough and stony, seemed all too short, and when they reached the spot appointed by the dragon the giant ordered the men who bore the litter to stand still. Who acts: way, tears, spot, men. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 29, with its dependency tre
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 29, sentence 59

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The way, though rough and stony, seemed all too short, and when they reached the spot appointed by the dragon the giant ordered the men who bore the litter to stand still.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** way, tears, spot, men · **What happens:** seem, reach, appoint, order, bear, stand · **To what, where:** spot, men, litter

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (way, tears, spot, men), 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:pg3027:29:59
# text = The way, though rough and stony, seemed all too short, and when they reached the spot appointed by the dragon the giant ordered the men who bore the litter to stand still.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	acl	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	stony	stony	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
9	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	nsubj	_	_
11	too	too	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	17	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
20	appointed	appoint	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	acl	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
26	ordered	order	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	parataxis	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
29	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	30	nsubj	_	_
30	bore	bear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	litter	litter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	acl	_	_
35	still	still	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | the way |  |  |  |  | short *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **reach** | past | tears *= tear* |  |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **appoint** | participle |  | the spot *not said here* |  |  |  | by the dragon | vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **order** | past | the spot |  | the men |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent man=Theme |
| 5 | **bear** | past | the men | the litter |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent litter=Patient |
| 6 | **stand** | to-infinitive | the men *not said here* | the litter *not said here* |  |  | still |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «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:** «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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