---
title: So long as the sap was fresh in the roots the magic staff could keep… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So long as the sap was fresh in the roots the magic staff could keep them in the forms you desired, but as the sap dried up they withered away. Who acts: sap, magic staff, you, roots. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 31, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 31, sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So long as the sap was fresh in the roots the magic staff could keep them in the forms you desired, but as the sap dried up they withered away.

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**Who acts:** sap, magic staff, you, roots · **What happens:** be, keep, desire, dry up, wither away · **To what, where:** roots, forms, sap

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sap, magic staff, you, roots), 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:pg3282:31:63
# text = So long as the sap was fresh in the roots the magic staff could keep them in the forms you desired, but as the sap dried up they withered away.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sap	SAP	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	fresh	fresh	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	advcl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	_
13	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
16	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	forms	form	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
20	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	desired	desire	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
24	as	as	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	sap	SAP	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
27	dried	dry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	26	acl	_	_
28	up	up	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	withered	wither	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
31	away	away	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the sap |  |  |  |  | fresh, long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **keep** | could | the magic staff | roots *= root* |  | the roots |  | in the forms | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent they=Theme in root=Location |
| 3 | **desire** | past | you | the forms *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot form=Theme |
| 4 | **dry up** | participle |  | the sap *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **wither away** | past | roots *= root* |  |  |  |  | as the sap; away *property* | vn entity\_specific\_cos-45.5 «NP.patient V»: agent=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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