---
title: “The marriage cannot take place,” he said shortly, “till the youth h… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “The marriage cannot take place,” he said shortly, “till the youth has joined to their roots all the trees he cut down yesterday.” Who acts: marriage, king. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 24, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 24, sentence 17

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“The marriage cannot take place,” he said shortly, “till the youth has joined to their roots all the trees he cut down yesterday.”

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**Who acts:** marriage, king · **What happens:** not take, say, join, cut down · **To what, where:** place, trees · **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 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (marriage, king), 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:pg3282:24:17
# text = “The marriage cannot take place,” he said shortly, “till the youth has joined to their roots all the trees he cut down yesterday.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	marriage	marriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
6	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
12	shortly	shortly	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
14	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	till	till	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
18	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	joined	join	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	ccomp	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
23	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	25	det:predet	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	_
28	down	down	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	_
29	yesterday	yesterday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **take** *in a quote* | can | the marriage | place |  |  |  |  | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent place=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | king |  |  |  |  | shortly *property* | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **join** *in a quote* | present · perfect |  |  |  |  | till the youth; yesterday | to commands's roots  all trees | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V PP.patient»: agent=Patient to root=Co-Patient |
| 4 | **cut down** *in a quote* | past | king | all trees *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tree=Product |

<!-- .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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