---
title: The bridegroom looked, and on one side of the road he saw a large ba… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The bridegroom looked, and on one side of the road he saw a large ball of thread of all colours--of all the colours, that is, of the dresses that were tied on to the back of the cart. Who acts: bridegroom, colours. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 10, w
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 10, sentence 56

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bridegroom looked, and on one side of the road he saw a large ball of thread of all colours--of all the colours, that is, of the dresses that were tied on to the back of the cart.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bridegroom, colours · **What happens:** look, see, be, tie · **To what, where:** large ball, one side, colours, dresses

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bridegroom, colours), 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:pg3454:10:56
# text = The bridegroom looked, and on one side of the road he saw a large ball of thread of all colours--of all the colours, that is, of the dresses that were tied on to the back of the cart.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bridegroom	bridegroom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
8	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	thread	thread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	21	det	_	_
21	colours	colour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	26	det:predet	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	colours	colour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	nsubj	_	_
29	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	dresses	dress	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	acl:relcl	_	_
37	on	on	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	to	to	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	cart	cart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | past | the bridegroom |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 2 | **see** | past | bridegroom | a large ball of thread of all colours |  | one side of the road |  | of the dresses | tree rules |
| 3 | **does** | present | all colours | all colours *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot colour=Theme |
| 4 | **tie** | past · passive |  | the dresses |  |  |  | on the back of the cart | vn tape-22.4 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient on back=Co-Patient |

<!-- .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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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