---
title: “If this cloth is spread on a table,” answered they, “the table is i… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “If this cloth is spread on a table,” answered they, “the table is instantly covered with the most delicious food; and we each want to have it.” Who acts: we. 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 clau
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 24, sentence 76

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“If this cloth is spread on a table,” answered they, “the table is instantly covered with the most delicious food; and we each want to have it.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** we · **What happens:** spread, answer, cover, want, have · **To what, where:** cloth, table, brothers · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .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 (we), 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:pg3282:24:76
# text = “If this cloth is spread on a table,” answered they, “the table is instantly covered with the most delicious food; and we each want to have it.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
3	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	det	_	_
4	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	spread	spread	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	advcl	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
12	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux:pass	_	_
19	instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
23	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	24	advmod	_	_
24	delicious	delicious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	advmod	_	_
30	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spread** *a condition, not said to happen, in a quote* | present · passive |  | this cloth |  | a table |  |  | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on table=Destination |
| 2 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | brothers *= brother* |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent they=Eventuality |
| 3 | **cover** *in a quote* | present · passive |  | the table |  |  |  | with the delicious food; instantly *property* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP PP.theme»: subject=Destination with food=Theme |
| 4 | **want** *in a quote* | present | we |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 5 | **have** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | cloth |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=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.

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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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