---
title: “How are we to do that, when the roots have made a deep hole, and ab… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “How are we to do that, when the roots have made a deep hole, and above that is a high bank?” replied a fourth. Who acts: we, that, fourth. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 12, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“How are we to do that, when the roots have made a deep hole, and above that is a high bank?” replied a fourth.

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**Who acts:** we, that, fourth · **What happens:** be, make, reply · **To what, where:** roots, high bank · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we, that, fourth), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3282:12:11
# text = “How are we to do that, when the roots have made a deep hole, and above that is a high bank?” replied a fourth.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
3	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	do	do	VERB	VB	Mood=Sub|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	27	ccomp	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	13	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	made	make	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	advcl	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
19	above	above	ADP	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
20	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
27	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	fourth	fourth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | we |  |  |  |  | do *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **make** *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | the roots |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP NP»: subject=Beneficiary hole=Product |
| 3 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | that | a high bank |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **reply** *speech: ask* | past | a fourth |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |

<!-- .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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