---
title: ‘Then the sooner it is done the better,’ said the Groac’h, and gave… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Then the sooner it is done the better,’ said the Groac’h, and gave orders to her servants. Who acts: Groac’h. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 34, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/34/28/)

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 34, sentence 28

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‘Then the sooner it is done the better,’ said the Groac’h, and gave orders to her servants.

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**Who acts:** Groac’h · **What happens:** do, say, give · **To what, where:** offer, orders, servants · **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 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Groac’h), 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:pg3454:34:28
# text = ‘Then the sooner it is done the better,’ said the Groac’h, and gave orders to her servants.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	7	advmod	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
7	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	ccomp	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	7	punct	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	Groac’h	Groac'h	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
18	orders	order	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | present · passive |  | offer |  |  |  | the better *obl*; soon *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Groac’h |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **give** | past | the Groac’h *not said here* | orders | Groac’h's servants |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent order=Theme to servant=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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