---
title: So clumsy was he that he was always putting his great feet into the… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So clumsy was he that he was always putting his great feet into the bowls of sweet milk or curds which his mother set out on the floor to cool, always smashing, upsetting, breaking, until at last his father said to him: Who acts: Moti, sweet milk, mother, last father. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy 
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 15, sentence 41

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So clumsy was he that he was always putting his great feet into the bowls of sweet milk or curds which his mother set out on the floor to cool, always smashing, upsetting, breaking, until at last his father said to him:

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**Who acts:** Moti, sweet milk, mother, last father · **What happens:** be, put, curd, set out, cool, smash · **To what, where:** Moti, great feet, bowls, floor · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Moti, sweet milk, mother, last father), 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:pg3454:15:41
# text = So clumsy was he that he was always putting his great feet into the bowls of sweet milk or curds which his mother set out on the floor to cool, always smashing, upsetting, breaking, until at last his father said to him:
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	clumsy	clumsy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	9	advmod	_	_
9	putting	put	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
11	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
13	into	into	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	bowls	bowl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	curds	curd	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
21	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	24	obj	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	ccomp	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	RP	_	24	compound:prt	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	cool	cool	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	33	advmod	_	_
33	smashing	smash	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
35	upsetting	upsetting	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
37	breaking	break	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
39	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
40	at	at	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
44	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
45	to	to	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
46	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | Moti |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **put** | past · progressive | Moti | Moti's great feet |  | the bowls of sweet milk |  | always *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent foot=Goal |
| 3 | **curd** | present | sweet milk *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **set out** | past | Moti's mother |  |  | the floor |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **cool** | to-infinitive | Moti's mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **smash** | gerund | Moti's mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **break** | gerund | Moti's mother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Moti's last father |  | Moti |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to he=Recipient |

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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 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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