---
title: The three chips which he flung into the river became a boat, and, as… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The three chips which he flung into the river became a boat, and, as he steered across the stream, the serpent put up its head and hissed loudly. Who acts: man, three chips, serpent. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 24, with its dependency tree and the 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 24, sentence 34

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The three chips which he flung into the river became a boat, and, as he steered across the stream, the serpent put up its head and hissed loudly.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** man, three chips, serpent · **What happens:** fling, become, steer, put up, hiss · **To what, where:** three chips, river, boat, stream, head

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (man, three chips, serpent), 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:pg3282:24:34
# text = The three chips which he flung into the river became a boat, and, as he steered across the stream, the serpent put up its head and hissed loudly.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	chips	chip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
4	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	obj	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	steered	steer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	_
19	across	across	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	parataxis	_	_
26	up	up	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
27	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	hissed	hiss	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
31	loudly	loudly	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fling** | past | man | the three chips |  | the river |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent which=Theme into river=Destination |
| 2 | **become** | past | the three chips | a boat |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **steer** | past | man |  |  | the stream |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent across stream=Destination |
| 4 | **put up** | past | the serpent | serpent's head |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent head=Goal |
| 5 | **hiss** | past | the serpent *not said here* |  |  |  |  | loudly *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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