---
title: Then the gold and silver staffs seemed to spring from the earth befo… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the gold and silver staffs seemed to spring from the earth before him, but this time also he overcame; and though the fruit from the magic tree almost touched his mouth, he brushed it aside and went steadily on. Who acts: gold, man, fruit. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, O
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 30, sentence 62

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Then the gold and silver staffs seemed to spring from the earth before him, but this time also he overcame; and though the fruit from the magic tree almost touched his mouth, he brushed it aside and went steadily on.

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**Who acts:** gold, man, fruit · **What happens:** seem, overcome, touch, brush, go · **To what, where:** earth, mouth

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (gold, man, fruit), 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:pg3027:30:62
# text = Then the gold and silver staffs seemed to spring from the earth before him, but this time also he overcame; and though the fruit from the magic tree almost touched his mouth, he brushed it aside and went steadily on.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
5	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	staffs	staff	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
7	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	spring	spring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
13	before	before	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	det	_	_
18	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl:unmarked	_	_
19	also	also	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	overcame	overcome	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
24	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
27	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	_
31	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
33	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	brushed	brush	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	aside	aside	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
41	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
42	steadily	steadily	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	on	on	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | the gold and silver staffs |  |  | the earth | before man; then; spring |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **overcome** | past | man |  |  |  | time |  | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot |
| 3 | **touch** | past | the fruit from the magic tree | man's mouth |  |  |  | almost *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme mouth=Co-Theme |
| 4 | **brush** | past | man | mouth |  |  |  | aside *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 5 | **go** | past | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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