---
title: Once, while he was taking a journey, a foot-bridge gave way under hi… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Once, while he was taking a journey, a foot-bridge gave way under him; once he was attacked by armed robbers; a rock rolled down upon him in a mountain pass; a heavy stone coping fell from a roof at his feet in a narrow city alley. Who acts: Nur, foot bridge, armed robbers, heavy stone. A sentence o
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, Story Of The King Who Would Be Stronger Than Fate, sentence 104

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Once, while he was taking a journey, a foot-bridge gave way under him; once he was attacked by armed robbers; a rock rolled down upon him in a mountain pass; a heavy stone coping fell from a roof at his feet in a narrow city alley.

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**Who acts:** Nur, foot bridge, armed robbers, heavy stone · **What happens:** take, give, attack, roll down, cope, fall · **To what, where:** journey, way, Nur, rock, mountain pass, roof

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story Of The King Who Would Be Stronger Than Fate. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nur, foot bridge, armed robbers, heavy stone), 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:pg3282:33:104
# text = Once, while he was taking a journey, a foot-bridge gave way under him; once he was attacked by armed robbers; a rock rolled down upon him in a mountain pass; a heavy stone coping fell from a roof at his feet in a narrow city alley.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	journey	journey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	bridge	bridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
16	under	under	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
19	once	once	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux:pass	_	_
22	attacked	attack	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	_
23	by	by	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	armed	armed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	robbers	robber	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	rolled	roll	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	conj	_	_
30	down	down	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	_
31	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	_
33	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
36	pass	pass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
41	coping	cope	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	40	acl	_	_
42	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
43	from	from	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
46	at	at	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	48	nmod:poss	_	_
48	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obl	_	_
49	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
50	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
51	narrow	narrow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	53	amod	_	_
52	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	compound	_	_
53	alley	alley	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past · progressive | Nur | a journey |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent journey=Theme |
| 2 | **give** | past | a foot bridge | way |  |  |  | under Nur; once *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 3 | **attack** | past · passive | armed robbers | Nur |  |  |  |  | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 4 | **roll down** | participle · passive |  | a rock |  | a mountain pass |  | upon Nur | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.agent V NP.theme PP.source PP.trajectory PP.destination»: subject=Theme upon he=Source in pass=Trajectory |
| 5 | **cope** | gerund | a heavy stone *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn cope-83-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **fall** | past | a heavy stone |  |  | a roof |  | at Nur's feet; in a narrow city alley | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at foot=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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