--- title: It did not take them long to weave the tops of the willows into a ba… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: It did not take them long to weave the tops of the willows into a basket, and they were just going to wade into the water and pull up the bulrush roots when a youth suddenly called out: “After all, why should we waste our time in doing work that is only fit for women and children? Who acts: It, peop --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/8/80/) [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/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/8/) / 80 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 80 It did not take them long to weave the tops of the willows into a basket, and they were just going to wade into the water and pull up the bulrush roots when a youth suddenly called out: “After all, why should we waste our time in doing work that is only fit for women and children? **Who acts:** It, people, all, work · **What happens:** not take, weave, go, wade, pull up, call out · **To what, where:** people, tops, basket, water, bulrush roots, youth · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (It, people, all, work), 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:pg3282:8:80 # text = It did not take them long to weave the tops of the willows into a basket, and they were just going to wade into the water and pull up the bulrush roots when a youth suddenly called out: “After all, why should we waste our time in doing work that is only fit for women and children? 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 3 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 4 advmod _ _ 4 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 0 root _ _ 5 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 obj _ _ 6 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 4 advmod _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 8 mark _ _ 8 weave weave VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 advcl _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 tops top NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 obj _ _ 11 of of ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 willows willow NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 nmod _ _ 14 into into ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 basket basket NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 19 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 20 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 aux _ _ 21 just just ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 22 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 advcl _ _ 23 to to PART TO _ 24 mark _ _ 24 wade wade VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 22 xcomp _ _ 25 into into ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 29 cc _ _ 29 pull pull VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 30 up up ADP RP _ 29 compound:prt _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 32 bulrush bulrush NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 compound _ _ 33 roots root NOUN NNS Number=Plur 29 obj _ _ 34 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 38 advmod _ _ 35 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 youth youth NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nsubj:pass _ _ 37 suddenly suddenly ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 38 called call VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 29 advcl _ _ 39 out out ADP RP _ 38 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 40 : : PUNCT : _ 48 punct _ _ 41 “ " PUNCT `` _ 48 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 After after ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 43 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 48 nsubj:outer _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 45 why why ADV WRB PronType=Int 43 advmod _ _ 46 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 48 aux _ _ 47 we we PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs 48 nsubj _ _ 48 waste waste VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 parataxis _ _ 49 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 50 nmod:poss _ _ 50 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 obj _ _ 51 in in SCONJ IN _ 52 mark _ _ 52 doing do VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 48 advcl _ _ 53 work work NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 obj _ _ 54 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 57 nsubj _ _ 55 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 57 cop _ _ 56 only only ADV RB _ 57 advmod _ _ 57 fit fit ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 53 acl:relcl _ _ 58 for for ADP IN _ 59 case _ _ 59 women woman NOUN NNS Number=Plur 57 obl _ _ 60 and and CCONJ CC _ 61 cc _ _ 61 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 59 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 62 ? ? PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **take** | past · do-support | It | people | | | | long *property* | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent they=Theme clause=Attribute | | 2 | **weave** | to-infinitive | | the tops of the willows | | a basket | | | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent top=Material into basket=Product | | 3 | **go** | past · progressive | people | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 4 | **wade** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* | | | the water | | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into water=Destination | | 5 | **pull up** | present | | the bulrush roots | | | | | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent root=Theme | | 6 | **call out** *speech: assert* | participle · passive | | a youth | | | | suddenly *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 7 | **waste** *in a quote* | should | all | | | | time | | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **do** *in a quote* | gerund | all *not said here* | work | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent work=Eventuality | | 9 | **is** *in a quote* | present | work | | | | | for women and children; fit *property* | tree rules | 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 79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/8/79/) - next →: [sentence 81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/8/81/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/8/)