---
title: And as he spoke he began tearing up the earth so fast that soon a de… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And as he spoke he began tearing up the earth so fast that soon a deep pit was ready, deep enough to hold him. Who acts: he, deep pit. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 27, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 27, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And as he spoke he began tearing up the earth so fast that soon a deep pit was ready, deep enough to hold him.

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**Who acts:** he, deep pit · **What happens:** speak, begin, tear up, be, hold · **To what, where:** earth, him · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 27. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (he, deep pit), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3282:27:2
# text = And as he spoke he began tearing up the earth so fast that soon a deep pit was ready, deep enough to hold him.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	tearing	tear	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	xcomp	_	_
8	up	up	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
13	that	that	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
14	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	19	advmod	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
19	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	deep	deep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	conj	_	_
22	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **begin** | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **tear up** | gerund | he *not said here* | the earth |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location earth=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | a deep pit |  |  |  |  | ready, soon, that *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** |  | a deep pit *not said here* |  |  |  |  | enough *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **hold** | to-infinitive | a deep pit *not said here* | him *= he* |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |

<!-- .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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