---
title: The three days passed; then the riddle was asked: “What did the rose… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The three days passed; then the riddle was asked: “What did the rose do to the cypress?” Who acts: rose. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 2, sentence 8

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The three days passed; then the riddle was asked: “What did the rose do to the cypress?”

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**Who acts:** rose · **What happens:** pass, ask, do · **To what, where:** three days, riddle · **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 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rose), 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:pg3282:2:8
# text = The three days passed; then the riddle was asked: “What did the rose do to the cypress?”
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	10	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	riddle	riddle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux:pass	_	_
10	asked	ask	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	4	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	obj	_	_
14	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	rose	rose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	cypress	cypress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | participle · passive |  | the three days |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past · passive |  | the riddle |  |  | then |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 3 | **do** *in a quote* | past · do-support | the rose |  |  |  |  | to the cypress | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

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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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