---
title: At length they came to a stone staircase, which was so dark that you… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At length they came to a stone staircase, which was so dark that you could not see your hand if you held it up before your face. Who acts: things, stone staircase, you. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 5, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 5, sentence 29

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At length they came to a stone staircase, which was so dark that you could not see your hand if you held it up before your face.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** things, stone staircase, you · **What happens:** come, be, not see, hold up · **To what, where:** length, hand

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (things, stone staircase, you), 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:pg3282:38:29
# text = At length they came to a stone staircase, which was so dark that you could not see your hand if you held it up before your face.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	compound	_	_
8	staircase	staircase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	advcl	_	_
19	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	up	up	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	_
26	before	before	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | things *= thing* |  |  | length |  | to a stone staircase | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to staircase=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **is** | past | a stone staircase |  |  |  |  | dark *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **see** | could | you | your hand |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hand=Stimulus |
| 4 | **hold up** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | you | hand |  |  | before your face |  | vn support-15.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=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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