---
title: But the brownie, who was standing by, burst out laughing, and confes… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the brownie, who was standing by, burst out laughing, and confessed that all the good offices she spoke of had been performed by him, for the sake of Jegu, but that now he had other business to do, and it was high time that she looked after her house herself. Who acts: brownie, Barbaik, Jegu, bu
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 37, sentence 76

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the brownie, who was standing by, burst out laughing, and confessed that all the good offices she spoke of had been performed by him, for the sake of Jegu, but that now he had other business to do, and it was high time that she looked after her house herself.

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**Who acts:** brownie, Barbaik, Jegu, business, high time · **What happens:** stand, burst out, laugh, confess, speak, perform · **To what, where:** good offices, other business, high time, Barbaik · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 37. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brownie, Barbaik, Jegu, business), 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:pg3454:37:76
# text = But the brownie, who was standing by, burst out laughing, and confessed that all the good offices she spoke of had been performed by him, for the sake of Jegu, but that now he had other business to do, and it was high time that she looked after her house herself.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	brownie	brownie	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	acl	_	_
8	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
10	burst	burst	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
11	out	out	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	laughing	laugh	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	confessed	confess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
17	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	20	det:predet	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	offices	office	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	obl	_	_
24	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	performed	perform	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	advcl	_	_
27	by	by	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	sake	sake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	Jegu	Jegu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
36	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
37	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
38	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	40	advmod	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
41	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	_
42	business	business	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	to	to	PART	TO	_	44	mark	_	_
44	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
49	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
51	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	53	nsubj	_	_
52	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
53	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	acl:relcl	_	_
54	after	after	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	_
57	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | past · progressive | the brownie |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **burst out** | infinitive | the brownie *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **laugh** | gerund | the brownie *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **confess** | past | the brownie |  |  |  |  |  | vn confess-37.10 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | Barbaik | all good offices *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **perform** | past · perfect · passive | Brownie | all good offices |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 7 | **have** | past | Jegu | other business |  |  | now |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent business=Patient |
| 8 | **do** | to-infinitive | Jegu *not said here* | other business *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **is a** | past | business | high time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **look** | past | high time | Barbaik |  |  | after Barbaik's house |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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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