---
title: The first time it slid back slowly into the ditch, and she had to dr… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The first time it slid back slowly into the ditch, and she had to draw it up, and throw it again, but at length the noose caught on something, the princess could not see what, and had to trust her whole weight to this little bridge, which might snap and let her fall deep down among the rocks. Who ac
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 26, sentence 13

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The first time it slid back slowly into the ditch, and she had to draw it up, and throw it again, but at length the noose caught on something, the princess could not see what, and had to trust her whole weight to this little bridge, which might snap and let her fall deep down among the rocks.

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**Who acts:** donkey, chasm, princess, little bridge · **What happens:** slide back, have, draw up, throw, catch, not see · **To what, where:** ditch, donkey, noose, length, whole weight, little bridge

<!-- .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 (donkey, chasm, princess, little bridge), 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:pg3282:26:13
# text = The first time it slid back slowly into the ditch, and she had to draw it up, and throw it again, but at length the noose caught on something, the princess could not see what, and had to trust her whole weight to this little bridge, which might snap and let her fall deep down among the rocks.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	amod	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	slid	slide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	back	back	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
8	into	into	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	ditch	ditch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	draw	draw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	up	up	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	again	again	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	noose	noose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	appos	_	_
30	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	acl	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	30	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
36	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
37	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
38	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
39	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	trust	trust	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	xcomp	_	_
45	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
46	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obj	_	_
48	to	to	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	51	det	_	_
50	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	bridge	bridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
53	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	55	nsubj	_	_
54	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	snap	snap	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	acl:relcl	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
57	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	conj	_	_
58	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	obj	_	_
59	fall	fall	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	57	xcomp	_	_
60	deep	deep	ADV	RB	_	61	advmod	_	_
61	down	down	ADV	RB	_	59	advmod	_	_
62	among	among	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	rocks	rock	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slide back** | past | donkey |  |  | the ditch | time | slowly *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into ditch=Destination |
| 2 | **have** | past | chasm |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **draw up** | to-infinitive | chasm *not said here* | donkey |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 4 | **throw** | infinitive | chasm *not said here* | donkey |  |  | again |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 5 | **catch** | participle |  | the noose *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **not** **see** | could | the princess |  |  | length |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 7 | **have** | past | donkey *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **trust** | to-infinitive | donkey *not said here* | chasm's whole weight | this little bridge |  |  |  | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent weight=Theme to bridge=Recipient |
| 9 | **snap** | might | this little bridge |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 10 | **let** | infinitive | donkey *not said here* | chasm |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **fall** | infinitive | chasm *not said here* |  |  | the rocks |  | down *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme among rock=Location |

<!-- .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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