---
title: And flack! flick! like lightening a white switch sprang out of the b… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And flack! flick! like lightening a white switch sprang out of the bag, and gave such hearty blows to the innkeeper and his wife, and to Father Grumbler into the bargain, that they all jumped as high as feathers when a mattress is shaken. Who acts: you, white switch, such hearty, directions. A sente
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 10, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And flack! flick! like lightening a white switch sprang out of the bag, and gave such hearty blows to the innkeeper and his wife, and to Father Grumbler into the bargain, that they all jumped as high as feathers when a mattress is shaken.

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**Who acts:** you, white switch, such hearty, directions · **What happens:** flack, lighten, spring out, give, blow, jump · **To what, where:** flick, bag, innkeeper, Father, mattress

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, white switch, such hearty, directions), 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:pg3282:10:29
# text = And flack! flick! like lightening a white switch sprang out of the bag, and gave such hearty blows to the innkeeper and his wife, and to Father Grumbler into the bargain, that they all jumped as high as feathers when a mattress is shaken.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	2	cc	_	_
2	flack	flack	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
4	flick	flick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
6	like	like	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	lightening	lighten	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	switch	switch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
12	out	out	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
19	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	hearty	hearty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	blows	blow	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	ccomp	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	innkeeper	innkeeper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
32	Grumbler	Grumbler	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	31	flat	_	_
33	into	into	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	bargain	bargain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
37	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
39	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	38	det	_	_
40	jumped	jump	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
41	as	as	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	xcomp	_	_
43	as	as	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	feathers	feather	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obl	_	_
45	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	49	mark	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	mattress	mattress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	nsubj:pass	_	_
48	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux:pass	_	_
49	shaken	shake	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **flack** | imperative | you *not said here* | flick |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lighten** | gerund | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn remedy-45.7-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **spring out** | past | a white switch | the bag |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location bag=Theme |
| 4 | **give** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **blow** | present | such hearty |  | the innkeeper and hearty's wife |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to innkeeper=Recipient |
| 6 | **jump** | past | directions *= direction* |  | Father into the bargain |  |  | high *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to father=Result |
| 7 | **shake** | present · passive |  | a mattress |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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