--- title: At length its eyes fell upon the milk, and in an instant it was lapp… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: At length its eyes fell upon the milk, and in an instant it was lapping it so fast that it was a wonder the creature did not choke, for it never took its head from the bowl as long as a drop was left in it. Who acts: eyes, milk, creature, it. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/25/80/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/25/) / 80 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 25, sentence 80 At length its eyes fell upon the milk, and in an instant it was lapping it so fast that it was a wonder the creature did not choke, for it never took its head from the bowl as long as a drop was left in it. **Who acts:** eyes, milk, creature, it · **What happens:** fall, lap, be, not choke, not take, leave · **To what, where:** length, instant, wonder, head, bowl, drop This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 25. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eyes, milk, creature, it), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3282:25:80 # text = At length its eyes fell upon the milk, and in an instant it was lapping it so fast that it was a wonder the creature did not choke, for it never took its head from the bowl as long as a drop was left in it. 1 At at ADP IN _ 2 case _ _ 2 length length NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 3 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 4 nmod:poss _ _ 4 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 nsubj _ _ 5 fell fall VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 upon upon ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 milk milk NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 11 in in ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 instant instant NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obl _ _ 14 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 aux _ _ 16 lapping lap VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 conj _ _ 17 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 obj _ _ 18 so so ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 19 fast fast ADV RB Degree=Pos 16 advmod _ _ 20 that that SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 21 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 22 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ _ 23 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 wonder wonder NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 advcl _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 creature creature NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nsubj _ _ 27 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ _ 28 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 29 advmod _ _ 29 choke choke VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 31 for for SCONJ IN _ 34 mark _ _ 32 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 34 advmod _ _ 34 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 35 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 37 from from ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 bowl bowl NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ _ 40 as as ADV RB _ 41 advmod _ _ 41 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 34 advmod _ _ 42 as as SCONJ IN _ 46 mark _ _ 43 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 44 det _ _ 44 drop drop NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 nsubj:pass _ _ 45 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 aux:pass _ _ 46 left leave VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 41 advcl _ _ 47 in in ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 48 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fall** | past | length's eyes | | | length | | upon the milk | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at length=Location | | 2 | **lap** | past · progressive | milk | instant | | | | in a instant; fast *property* | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Pivot it=Theme in instant=Attribute | | 3 | **is a** | past | milk | a wonder | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **not** **choke** | past · do-support | the creature | a wonder *not said here* | | | | | vn fill-9.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme wonder=Destination | | 5 | **not** **take** | past | it | milk's head | | the bowl | | long *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent head=Theme from bowl=Initial\_Location | | 6 | **leave** | past · passive | | a drop | | head | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in it=Location | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/25/79/) - next →: [sentence 81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/25/81/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 25](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/25/)