--- title: But along the road the snow was so wet and heavy that the boy could… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But along the road the snow was so wet and heavy that the boy could hardly get along, and then the thong of his snow-shoes broke, and he had to stop and mend it, so that the bear and the dog got so far ahead that he could scarcely hear the barking. Who acts: snow, boy, thong, bear. A sentence of «Th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/15/6/) [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 Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/15/) / 6 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 15, sentence 6 But along the road the snow was so wet and heavy that the boy could hardly get along, and then the thong of his snow-shoes broke, and he had to stop and mend it, so that the bear and the dog got so far ahead that he could scarcely hear the barking. **Who acts:** snow, boy, thong, bear · **What happens:** be, get along, break, have, stop, mend · **To what, where:** thong, barking This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (snow, boy, thong, bear), 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:pg3282:15:6 # text = But along the road the snow was so wet and heavy that the boy could hardly get along, and then the thong of his snow-shoes broke, and he had to stop and mend it, so that the bear and the dog got so far ahead that he could scarcely hear the barking. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 9 cc _ _ 2 along along ADP IN _ 4 case _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 road road NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 snow snow NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 cop _ _ 8 so so ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ _ 9 wet wet ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 11 heavy heavy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 9 conj _ _ 12 that that SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nsubj _ _ 15 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 16 hardly hardly ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 11 advcl _ _ 18 along along ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 20 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 21 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 29 advmod _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 thong thong NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nsubj _ _ 24 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 25 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 28 nmod:poss _ _ 26 snow snow NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 27 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 26 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 28 shoes shoe NOUN NNS Number=Plur 23 nmod _ _ 29 broke break VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 conj _ _ 34 to to PART TO _ 35 mark _ _ 35 stop stop VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 xcomp _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 37 mend mend VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 conj _ _ 38 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 40 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 47 mark _ _ 41 that that SCONJ IN _ 40 fixed _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 bear bear NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nsubj _ _ 44 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 dog dog NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 conj _ _ 47 got get VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 33 conj _ _ 48 so so ADV RB _ 50 advmod _ _ 49 far far ADV RB Degree=Pos 50 advmod _ _ 50 ahead ahead ADV RB _ 47 advmod _ _ 51 that that SCONJ IN _ 55 mark _ _ 52 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 55 nsubj _ _ 53 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 55 aux _ _ 54 scarcely scarcely ADV RB _ 55 advmod _ _ 55 hear hear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 50 advcl _ _ 56 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 57 det _ _ 57 barking barking NOUN NN Number=Sing 55 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 58 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the snow | | | | | along the road; wet *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **be** | | the snow *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **get along** | could | the boy | | | | | along, hardly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 4 | **break** | past | the thong of boy's snow shoes | | | | then | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient | | 5 | **have** | past | boy | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **stop** | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* | | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality | | 7 | **mend** | infinitive | boy *not said here* | thong | | | | | tree rules | | 8 | **get** | past | the bear and the dog | | | | | ahead *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 9 | **hear** | could | boy | the barking | | | | scarcely *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer barking=Stimulus | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/15/5/) - next →: [sentence 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/15/7/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/15/)