---
title: Parents and children clung together, as if by that means they could… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Parents and children clung together, as if by that means they could drive back the advancing flood; and the youth who had caused all this terrible catastrophe, seized his sweetheart, and cried: “I will climb with you to the top of that tree, and there no waters can reach us.” Who acts: Parents, that
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 102

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Parents and children clung together, as if by that means they could drive back the advancing flood; and the youth who had caused all this terrible catastrophe, seized his sweetheart, and cried: “I will climb with you to the top of that tree, and there no waters can reach us.”

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**Who acts:** Parents, that, youth, waters · **What happens:** cling, mean, drive back, advance, cause, seize · **To what, where:** advancing flood, terrible catastrophe, sweetheart, top, us · **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 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Parents, that, youth, waters), 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:pg3282:8:102
# text = Parents and children clung together, as if by that means they could drive back the advancing flood; and the youth who had caused all this terrible catastrophe, seized his sweetheart, and cried: “I will climb with you to the top of that tree, and there no waters can reach us.”
1	Parents	parent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	_
4	clung	cling	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	together	together	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	nsubj	_	_
11	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	drive	drive	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	ccomp	_	_
15	back	back	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	advancing	advance	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	18	amod	_	_
18	flood	flood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	youth	youth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
23	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	caused	cause	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	acl:relcl	_	_
26	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	29	det:predet	_	_
27	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	det	_	_
28	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	catastrophe	catastrophe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
31	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	sweetheart	sweetheart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	41	punct	_	_
38	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	41	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
40	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	41	aux	_	_
41	climb	climb	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
42	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	41	obl	_	_
44	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	49	det	_	_
49	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
52	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	56	expl	_	_
53	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	54	det	_	_
54	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	nsubj	_	_
55	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
56	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	advcl	_	_
57	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	56	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cling** | participle | Parents and children |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn cling-22.5 «NP V together»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **mean** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | that |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **drive back** | could | parents *= parent* | the advancing flood |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **advance** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn caused\_calibratable\_cos-45.6.2-1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **cause** | past · perfect | the youth | all terrible catastrophe |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition catastrophe=Patient |
| 6 | **seize** | past | the youth | youth's sweetheart |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sweetheart=Theme |
| 7 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | the youth *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **climb** *in a quote* | future | the youth *= youth* |  |  | the top of that tree |  | with you | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to top=Destination |
| 9 | **reach** *in a quote* | can | no waters | us |  | there |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent we=Theme |

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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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