---
title: But before they laid hold of the comb he had shaken them all off, an… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But before they laid hold of the comb he had shaken them all off, and neither man nor horse nor dog could reach him till he came to Cornwall, whither Arthur had sworn he should not go. Who acts: knights, boar, man, Arthur. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, pa
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 40, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But before they laid hold of the comb he had shaken them all off, and neither man nor horse nor dog could reach him till he came to Cornwall, whither Arthur had sworn he should not go.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** knights, boar, man, Arthur · **What happens:** lay, shake, reach, come, swear, not go · **To what, where:** hold, knights, boar, Cornwall, comb

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 40. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (knights, boar, man, Arthur), 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:pg3454:40:8
# text = But before they laid hold of the comb he had shaken them all off, and neither man nor horse nor dog could reach him till he came to Cornwall, whither Arthur had sworn he should not go.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
2	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
5	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	comb	comb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	shaken	shake	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	advmod	_	_
14	off	off	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
17	neither	neither	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	18	det	_	_
18	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
19	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	20	cc	_	_
20	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	_
21	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	22	cc	_	_
22	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	conj	_	_
23	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obj	_	_
26	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	Cornwall	Cornwall	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	whither	whither	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
33	Arthur	Arthur	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	sworn	swear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	28	conj	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
37	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
38	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	39	advmod	_	_
39	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lay** | past | knights *= knight* | hold of the comb |  |  |  |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hold=Result |
| 2 | **shake** | past · perfect | boar | knights *= knight* |  |  |  | off *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 3 | **reach** | could | neither man nor horse nor dog | boar |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 4 | **come** | past | boar |  |  | Cornwall |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to cornwall=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **swear** | past · perfect | Arthur |  |  |  |  | whither *property* | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **go** | should | boar |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **hold** |  |  | the comb |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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