---
title: Well, he sat down as stiff as a ramrod, and was talking in a grand s… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Well, he sat down as stiff as a ramrod, and was talking in a grand style about the great doings at the castle, while she was getting the tea and toast ready. Who acts: folk, woman. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 13, with its dependency tree and the pr
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 13, sentence 78

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Well, he sat down as stiff as a ramrod, and was talking in a grand style about the great doings at the castle, while she was getting the tea and toast ready.

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**Who acts:** folk, woman · **What happens:** sit down, talk, get · **To what, where:** grand style, tea

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (folk, woman), 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:pg3454:13:78
# text = Well, he sat down as stiff as a ramrod, and was talking in a grand style about the great doings at the castle, while she was getting the tea and toast ready.
1	Well	well	INTJ	UH	_	4	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	down	down	ADP	RP	_	4	compound:prt	_	_
6	as	as	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	stiff	stiff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	xcomp	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	ramrod	ramrod	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	talking	talk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	grand	grand	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	style	style	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
19	about	about	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	doings	doing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	castle	castle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	getting	get	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	conj	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	tea	tea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	toast	toast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	conj	_	_
35	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit down** | past | folk |  |  |  |  | stiff *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **talk** | past · progressive | folk *not said here* |  |  | a grand style about the great doings |  | at the castle | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **get** | past · progressive | woman | the tea and toast |  |  |  | ready *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tea=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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