--- title: The first thing the tortoise did was to call his brothers and his co… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The first thing the tortoise did was to call his brothers and his cousins together, and he posted them carefully under ferns all along the line of the great clearing, making a sort of ladder which stretched for many miles. Who acts: tortoise, first thing, sun, sort. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Bo --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/35/101/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted,…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/35/) / 101 # The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2, sentence 101 The first thing the tortoise did was to call his brothers and his cousins together, and he posted them carefully under ferns all along the line of the great clearing, making a sort of ladder which stretched for many miles. **Who acts:** tortoise, first thing, sun, sort · **What happens:** do, be, post, make, stretch, sort · **To what, where:** first thing, Tortoise, ferns, sort, ladder This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tortoise, first thing, sun, sort), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3282:35:101 # text = The first thing the tortoise did was to call his brothers and his cousins together, and he posted them carefully under ferns all along the line of the great clearing, making a sort of ladder which stretched for many miles. 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 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nsubj:outer _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 tortoise tortoise NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 6 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 acl:relcl _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 cop _ _ 8 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 9 call call VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 10 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 11 nmod:poss _ _ 11 brothers brother NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 obj _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 14 cc _ _ 13 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 14 nmod:poss _ _ 14 cousins cousin NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 conj _ _ 15 together together ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 19 cc _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 posted post VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 advcl _ _ 20 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 obj _ _ 21 carefully carefully ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 22 under under ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 23 ferns fern NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obl _ _ 24 all all ADV RB _ 27 advmod _ _ 25 along along ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 line line NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 nmod _ _ 28 of of ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 31 det _ _ 30 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 amod _ _ 31 clearing clearing NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 33 making make VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 advcl _ _ 34 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 sort sort NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obj _ _ 36 of of ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 37 ladder ladder NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 nmod _ _ 38 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 39 nsubj _ _ 39 stretched stretch VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 35 acl:relcl _ _ 40 for for ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 42 amod _ _ 42 miles mile NOUN NNS Number=Plur 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **do** | past | the tortoise | the first thing *not said here* | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality | | 2 | **is** | past | the first thing | | | | | call, together *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **post** | past | sun | Tortoise | | ferns along the line of the great clearing | | carefully *property* | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | | 4 | **make** | gerund | sun *not said here* | a sort of ladder | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset sort=Product | | 5 | **stretch** | past | a sort of ladder | | | | | for many miles | vn bend-45.2 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 6 | **sort** | | | ladder | | | | | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 100](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/35/100/) - next →: [sentence 102](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/35/102/) - ↑ back to [Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/35/)