---
title: Father Grumbler stared in silence for an instant, and then he began… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Father Grumbler stared in silence for an instant, and then he began to swear so loudly that even his family, accustomed as they were to his language, wondered at him. Who acts: Father, diamonds. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 9, with its dependency tr
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 9, sentence 114

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Father Grumbler stared in silence for an instant, and then he began to swear so loudly that even his family, accustomed as they were to his language, wondered at him.

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**Who acts:** Father, diamonds · **What happens:** stare, begin, swear, accustom, be, wonder · **To what, where:** family

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Father, diamonds), 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:pg3282:9:114
# text = Father Grumbler stared in silence for an instant, and then he began to swear so loudly that even his family, accustomed as they were to his language, wondered at him.
1	Father	Father	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	Grumbler	Grumbler	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	1	flat	_	_
3	stared	stare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	13	advmod	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	swear	swear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	so	so	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	loudly	loudly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	even	even	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	family	family	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	accustomed	accustom	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	language	language	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
31	wondered	wonder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
32	at	at	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stare** | past | Father |  |  |  |  | for a instant; in silence | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in silence=Theme |
| 2 | **begin** | past | Father |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **swear** | to-infinitive | Father *not said here* | Father's family |  |  |  | loudly *property* | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **accustom** | participle |  | Father's family *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | diamonds *= diamond* |  |  |  |  | to Father's language | tree rules |
| 6 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past | Father *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at Father | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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