---
title: The first to start on the morning of the wedding-day was the bear, w… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The first to start on the morning of the wedding-day was the bear, who always liked to be punctual; and, besides, he had a long way to go, and his hair, being so thick and rough, needed a good brushing before it was fit to be seen at a party. Who acts: way, it. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» b
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 79

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The first to start on the morning of the wedding-day was the bear, who always liked to be punctual; and, besides, he had a long way to go, and his hair, being so thick and rough, needed a good brushing before it was fit to be seen at a party.

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**Who acts:** way, it · **What happens:** start, be, like, have, go, need · **To what, where:** bear, long way, good brushing, party

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (way, it), 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:pg3282:20:79
# text = The first to start on the morning of the wedding-day was the bear, who always liked to be punctual; and, besides, he had a long way to go, and his hair, being so thick and rough, needed a good brushing before it was fit to be seen at a party.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	acl	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	wedding	wedding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	19	obj	_	_
18	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	19	advmod	_	_
19	liked	like	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	cop	_	_
22	punctual	punctual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	besides	besides	INTJ	UH	_	29	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	42	cop	_	_
41	so	so	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	rough	rough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
46	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	conj	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
48	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	brushing	brushing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
50	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
51	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
52	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	cop	_	_
53	fit	fit	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	advcl	_	_
54	to	to	PART	TO	_	56	mark	_	_
55	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	aux:pass	_	_
56	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	53	xcomp	_	_
57	at	at	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
59	party	party	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  | morning |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | the bear |  |  | day |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **like** | past |  | the bear |  |  |  | always *property* | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Pivot who=Theme |
| 4 | **is** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | punctual *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | past | way | a long way |  |  |  | way's hair *obl* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Patient |
| 6 | **go** | to-infinitive | way *not said here* | a long way *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | thick *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **be** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **need** | past |  | a good brushing |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot brushing=Theme |
| 10 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | fit *property* | tree rules |
| 11 | **see** | to-infinitive · passive |  |  |  | a party |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V» |

<!-- .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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