---
title: Why, you would first have to dig a pit, and then twist ropes of will… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Why, you would first have to dig a pit, and then twist ropes of willow, and drive in posts and fill the hole with pitch, and, last of all, set it on fire. Who acts: you, all. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 26, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/26/107/)

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 26, sentence 107

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why, you would first have to dig a pit, and then twist ropes of willow, and drive in posts and fill the hole with pitch, and, last of all, set it on fire.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, all · **What happens:** have, dig, twist, drive, fill, set · **To what, where:** pit, ropes, posts, hole, fire

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, all), 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:pg3282:26:107
# text = Why, you would first have to dig a pit, and then twist ropes of willow, and drive in posts and fill the hole with pitch, and, last of all, set it on fire.
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	advmod	_	_
6	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	dig	dig	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
14	twist	twist	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
15	ropes	rope	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	willow	willow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	drive	drive	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	posts	post	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	fill	fill	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	pitch	pitch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	last	last	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	36	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
36	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	on	on	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | would | you |  |  |  |  | first *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **dig** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | a pit |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent pit=Theme |
| 3 | **twist** | infinitive | you *not said here* | ropes of willow |  |  | then |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent rope=Theme |
| 4 | **drive** | present |  |  |  | posts |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **fill** | present |  | the hole |  |  |  | with pitch | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent hole=Patient with pitch=Instrument |
| 6 | **set** | infinitive | all | hole |  | fire |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme on fire=Destination |

<!-- .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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