---
title: To make matters worse, the wind was rising too, and it was quite pla… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: To make matters worse, the wind was rising too, and it was quite plain that in a few hours the ship would be dashed to pieces and everybody would be drowned, when suddenly the form of a mermaid was seen dancing on the waves which threatened every moment to overwhelm them. Who acts: wind, form, waves
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/17/88/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/17/) / 88

# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 17, sentence 88

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To make matters worse, the wind was rising too, and it was quite plain that in a few hours the ship would be dashed to pieces and everybody would be drowned, when suddenly the form of a mermaid was seen dancing on the waves which threatened every moment to overwhelm them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** wind, form, waves · **What happens:** make, rise, be, dash, drown, see · **To what, where:** matters, ship, everybody, form, waves, mermaid

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wind, form, waves), 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:pg3282:17:88
# text = To make matters worse, the wind was rising too, and it was quite plain that in a few hours the ship would be dashed to pieces and everybody would be drowned, when suddenly the form of a mermaid was seen dancing on the waves which threatened every moment to overwhelm them.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	make	make	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	matters	matter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	worse	bad	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	rising	rise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
10	too	too	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	plain	plain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	dashed	dash	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	advcl	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	everybody	everybody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	drowned	drown	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
35	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	43	mark	_	_
36	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	form	form	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	_
42	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux:pass	_	_
43	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	parataxis	_	_
44	dancing	dance	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	43	xcomp	_	_
45	on	on	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	waves	wave	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	obl	_	_
48	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	49	nsubj	_	_
49	threatened	threaten	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	acl:relcl	_	_
50	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	51	det	_	_
51	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	overwhelm	overwhelm	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	acl	_	_
54	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | to-infinitive |  | matters |  |  |  | bad *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset matter=Product |
| 2 | **rise** | past · progressive | the wind |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | wind |  |  |  |  | plain *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **dash** | would · passive |  | the ship |  |  | hour | to pieces *result* | vn hit-18.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: subject=Patient to piece=Result |
| 5 | **drown** | would · passive |  | everybody |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **see** | past · passive |  | the form of a mermaid |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **dance** | gerund | the form of a mermaid *not said here* |  |  | the waves |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on wave=Location |
| 8 | **threaten** | past | the waves |  |  |  | moment |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 9 | **overwhelm** | to-infinitive | the waves *not said here* | waves *= wave* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |
| 10 | **form** |  |  | a mermaid |  |  |  |  | nom form «communication transitive»: of=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 87](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/17/87/)
- next →: [sentence 89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/17/89/)
- ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/17/)