---
title: The branches of the tree itself were laden with fruit, and every day… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The branches of the tree itself were laden with fruit, and every day at sunrise a big grey monkey might have been seen sitting in the topmost branches having his breakfast, and chattering to himself with delight. Who acts: big grey monkey, topmost branches. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by An
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5, sentence 23

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The branches of the tree itself were laden with fruit, and every day at sunrise a big grey monkey might have been seen sitting in the topmost branches having his breakfast, and chattering to himself with delight.

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**Who acts:** big grey monkey, topmost branches · **What happens:** lade, see, sit, have, chatter · **To what, where:** branches, big grey monkey, topmost branches, breakfast, tide

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (big grey monkey, topmost branches), 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:pg3454:5:23
# text = The branches of the tree itself were laden with fruit, and every day at sunrise a big grey monkey might have been seen sitting in the topmost branches having his breakfast, and chattering to himself with delight.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	5	nmod:unmarked	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	laden	lade	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
13	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	14	det	_	_
14	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl:unmarked	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	sunrise	sunrise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
18	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
19	grey	grey	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	monkey	monkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
22	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	aux	_	_
23	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	aux:pass	_	_
24	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
25	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	xcomp	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	topmost	topmost	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	_
30	having	have	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	29	acl	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	breakfast	breakfast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	chattering	chatter	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	advcl	_	_
36	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	35	obl	_	_
38	with	with	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	delight	delight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lade** | past · passive |  | the branches of the tree  tree |  |  |  | with fruit | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | might · perfect · passive |  | a big grey monkey |  |  | day |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **sit** | gerund | a big grey monkey *not said here* |  |  | the topmost branches |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in branch=Location |
| 4 | **have** | gerund | the topmost branches *not said here* | tide's breakfast |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent breakfast=Patient |
| 5 | **chatter** | gerund | a big grey monkey *not said here* |  | tide |  |  | with delight | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to himself=Recipient |

<!-- .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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