---
title: “What is the matter with the thing?” cried the father at last, snatc… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “What is the matter with the thing?” cried the father at last, snatching the basket from them, and turning it all over, grumbling and swearing while he did so, under the eyes of his astonished wife and children, who did not know whether to cry or to laugh. Who acts: matter, astonished wife. A senten
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 9, sentence 64

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“What is the matter with the thing?” cried the father at last, snatching the basket from them, and turning it all over, grumbling and swearing while he did so, under the eyes of his astonished wife and children, who did not know whether to cry or to laugh.

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**Who acts:** matter, astonished wife · **What happens:** be, cry, snatch, turn, grumble, swear · **To what, where:** matter, father, last, basket, eyes · **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 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (matter, astonished wife), 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:pg3282:9:64
# text = “What is the matter with the thing?” cried the father at last, snatching the basket from them, and turning it all over, grumbling and swearing while he did so, under the eyes of his astonished wife and children, who did not know whether to cry or to laugh.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
6	with	with	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	8	punct	_	_
11	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	snatching	snatch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	basket	basket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	from	from	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	parataxis	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	all	all	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	over	over	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	grumbling	grumble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	conj	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	swearing	swear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	conj	_	_
32	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
35	so	so	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	under	under	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
40	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
42	astonished	astonished	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nmod	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
45	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
47	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	50	nsubj	_	_
48	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
49	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	50	advmod	_	_
50	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	parataxis	_	_
51	whether	whether	SCONJ	IN	_	53	mark	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	cry	cry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	xcomp	_	_
54	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
55	to	to	PART	TO	_	56	mark	_	_
56	laugh	laugh	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** *in a quote* | present |  | the matter |  |  |  | with the thing | tree rules |
| 2 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | the matter | the father |  | last |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent father=Topic |
| 3 | **snatch** | gerund | the matter *not said here* | the basket |  |  |  | from children *= child* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent basket=Theme from they=Source |
| 4 | **turn** | gerund |  | basket |  | the eyes of matter's astonished wife and children |  | over *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 5 | **grumble** *speech: other* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **swear** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **do** | past | matter |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | matter's astonished wife and children |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 9 | **cry** *speech: express* | to-infinitive | matter's astonished wife and children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **laugh** | to-infinitive | matter's astonished wife and children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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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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