---
title: The fisherman and his wife stood aghast on the doorstep, holding on… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The fisherman and his wife stood aghast on the doorstep, holding on fast by the doorpost, while the foam splashed over their faces. Who acts: fisherman, foam. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 23, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 23, sentence 128

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The fisherman and his wife stood aghast on the doorstep, holding on fast by the doorpost, while the foam splashed over their faces.

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**Who acts:** fisherman, foam · **What happens:** stand, hold on, splash · **To what, where:** doorstep, faces

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fisherman, foam), 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:pg3454:23:128
# text = The fisherman and his wife stood aghast on the doorstep, holding on fast by the doorpost, while the foam splashed over their faces.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fisherman	fisherman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
6	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	aghast	aghast	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	doorstep	doorstep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	RP	_	12	compound:prt	_	_
14	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	12	advmod	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	doorpost	doorpost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	foam	foam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	splashed	splash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
23	over	over	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	faces	face	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past | the fisherman and fisherman's wife |  |  | the doorstep |  | aghast *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on doorstep=Location |
| 2 | **hold on** | gerund | the fisherman and fisherman's wife *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by the doorpost; fast *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by doorpost=Location |
| 3 | **splash** | past | the foam |  |  | things's faces |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over face=Location |

<!-- .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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