---
title: But the switch paid no attention, and dealt out its blows as before,… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the switch paid no attention, and dealt out its blows as before, and MIGHT have been dealing them to this day, if the Holy Man had not heard their cries and come to the rescue. Who acts: switch, Holy Man, blows. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 10, 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 10, sentence 33

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the switch paid no attention, and dealt out its blows as before, and MIGHT have been dealing them to this day, if the Holy Man had not heard their cries and come to the rescue.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** switch, Holy Man, blows · **What happens:** pay, deal out, deal, not hear, come, blow · **To what, where:** attention, blows, cries, rescue

<!-- .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 (switch, Holy Man, blows), 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:pg3282:10:33
# text = But the switch paid no attention, and dealt out its blows as before, and MIGHT have been dealing them to this day, if the Holy Man had not heard their cries and come to the rescue.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	switch	switch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	paid	pay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	attention	attention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	dealt	deal	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
10	out	out	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
11	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	blows	blow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
13	as	as	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	before	before	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
17	MIGHT	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
18	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	aux	_	_
19	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	20	aux	_	_
20	dealing	deal	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	det	_	_
24	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
26	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	Holy	Holy	PROPN	NNP	_	29	compound	_	_
29	Man	Man	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
32	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	parataxis	_	_
33	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	cries	cry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	conj	_	_
37	to	to	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	rescue	rescue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pay** | past | the switch | no attention |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent attention=Asset |
| 2 | **deal out** | participle | the switch *not said here* | switch's blows |  |  |  | before *property* | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blow=Theme |
| 3 | **deal** | might · perfect · progressive | the switch *not said here* | blows *= blow* |  |  | day |  | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 4 | **not** **hear** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | the Holy Man | blows's cries |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer cry=Stimulus |
| 5 | **come** | infinitive | the Holy Man *not said here* |  |  | the rescue |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to rescue=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **blow** |  | switch |  |  |  |  |  | nom blow «act intransitive»: poss=agent |
| 7 | **cry** |  | blows *= blow* |  |  |  |  |  | nom cry «communication intransitive»: poss=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 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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