--- title: But the rays of the sun pierced through the thickness of the cloth,… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But the rays of the sun pierced through the thickness of the cloth, and as they passed the doorpost she gave a spring, and the tip of one of her feathers touched the post, which gave a scream, and brought the giant back in three strides. Who acts: rays, Scarcely, tip, post. A sentence of «The Orange --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/7/63/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/7/) / 63 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 7, sentence 63 But the rays of the sun pierced through the thickness of the cloth, and as they passed the doorpost she gave a spring, and the tip of one of her feathers touched the post, which gave a scream, and brought the giant back in three strides. **Who acts:** rays, Scarcely, tip, post · **What happens:** pierce, pass, give, touch, bring, ray · **To what, where:** doorpost, post, scream, giant back, three strides, sun This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rays, Scarcely, tip, post), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3027:7:63 # text = But the rays of the sun pierced through the thickness of the cloth, and as they passed the doorpost she gave a spring, and the tip of one of her feathers touched the post, which gave a scream, and brought the giant back in three strides. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 rays ray NOUN NNS Number=Plur 7 nsubj _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 sun sun NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nmod _ _ 7 pierced pierce VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 8 through through ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 thickness thickness NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 cloth cloth NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 16 as as SCONJ IN _ 18 mark _ _ 17 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 nsubj _ _ 18 passed pass VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 advcl _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 doorpost doorpost NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ _ 21 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 parataxis _ _ 23 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 spring spring NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 tip tip NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 29 of of ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 28 nmod _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 feathers feather NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 nmod _ _ 34 touched touch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 parataxis _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 post post NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 38 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 39 nsubj _ _ 39 gave give VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 acl:relcl _ _ 40 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 scream scream NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 42 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 43 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 44 brought bring VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 conj _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 46 giant giant ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 back back NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obj _ _ 48 in in ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 49 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 50 nummod _ _ 50 strides stride NOUN NNS Number=Plur 44 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 51 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **pierce** | participle | the rays of the sun | | | | | through the thickness of the cloth | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP PP.patient»: agent=Agent through thickness=Patient | | 2 | **pass** | past | rays *= ray* | the doorpost | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme doorpost=Trajectory | | 3 | **give** | past | Scarcely | | | | spring | | vn break\_down-45.8 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 4 | **touch** | past | the tip of one of Scarcely's feathers | the post | | | | | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme post=Co-Theme | | 5 | **give** | past | the post | a scream | | | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent scream=Theme | | 6 | **bring** | past | Scarcely *not said here* | the giant back | | three strides | | | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent back=Theme | | 7 | **ray** | | | the sun | | | | | nom ray «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/7/62/) - next →: [sentence 64](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/7/64/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/7/)