---
title: For miles round the country was bare, for the enemy had cut down eve… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: For miles round the country was bare, for the enemy had cut down every tree and burnt every blade of corn; and, idiot though he might be, Peronnik was able to grasp that inside the gates men were dying of famine. Who acts: Peronnik, gates men. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 28, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
For miles round the country was bare, for the enemy had cut down every tree and burnt every blade of corn; and, idiot though he might be, Peronnik was able to grasp that inside the gates men were dying of famine.

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**Who acts:** Peronnik, gates men · **What happens:** be, cut down, burnt, grasp, die · **To what, where:** tree, blade, idiot

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Peronnik, gates men), 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:pg3454:28:15
# text = For miles round the country was bare, for the enemy had cut down every tree and burnt every blade of corn; and, idiot though he might be, Peronnik was able to grasp that inside the gates men were dying of famine.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	miles	mile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
3	round	round	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	parataxis	_	_
14	down	down	ADP	RP	_	13	compound:prt	_	_
15	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	16	det	_	_
16	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	burnt	burnt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
19	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	20	det	_	_
20	blade	blade	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	corn	corn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	26	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	idiot	idiot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	appos	_	_
27	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
29	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
30	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	Peronnik	Peronnik	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
34	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	acl	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	grasp	grasp	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
37	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
38	inside	inside	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	gates	gate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	compound	_	_
41	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
42	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	dying	die	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	36	advcl	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	famine	famine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | for miles round the country; bare *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **cut down** | past · perfect |  | every tree |  |  |  | for the enemy | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP P.asset»: agent=Agent tree=Product for enemy=Asset |
| 3 | **burnt** | participle |  | every blade of corn |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | might | Peronnik | idiot *not said here* |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **grasp** | to-infinitive | Peronnik *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **die** | past · progressive | gates men |  |  |  |  | of famine | vn die-42.4-1 «NP V PP.cause»: agent=Patient of famine=Causer |

<!-- .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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