---
title: He can turn cartwheels, stand on his head, ride see-saw, throw snowb… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He can turn cartwheels, stand on his head, ride see-saw, throw snowballs, play ball, crow like a cock, eat bread and butter and drink sour milk, tear his trousers, wear holes in his elbows, break the crockery in pieces, throw balls through the windowpanes, draw old men on important papers, walk over
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 7, sentence 113

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He can turn cartwheels, stand on his head, ride see-saw, throw snowballs, play ball, crow like a cock, eat bread and butter and drink sour milk, tear his trousers, wear holes in his elbows, break the crockery in pieces, throw balls through the windowpanes, draw old men on important papers, walk over the flower-beds, eat himself sick with gooseberries, and be well after a whipping.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Walter · **What happens:** turn, stand, ride, see, throw, play · **To what, where:** cartwheels, head, saw, snowballs, ball, bread

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Walter), 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:pg3454:7:113
# text = He can turn cartwheels, stand on his head, ride see-saw, throw snowballs, play ball, crow like a cock, eat bread and butter and drink sour milk, tear his trousers, wear holes in his elbows, break the crockery in pieces, throw balls through the windowpanes, draw old men on important papers, walk over the flower-beds, eat himself sick with gooseberries, and be well after a whipping.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	cartwheels	cartwheel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	ride	ride	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
12	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	saw	saw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
17	snowballs	snowball	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	play	play	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
20	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	crow	crow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	like	like	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	cock	cock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
27	eat	eat	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
28	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	butter	butter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	drink	drink	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
33	sour	sour	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	milk	milk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	tear	tear	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	trousers	trousers	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	wear	wear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
41	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obj	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	elbows	elbow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
46	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	crockery	crockery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obj	_	_
49	in	in	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
52	throw	throw	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	46	parataxis	_	_
53	balls	ball	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obj	_	_
54	through	through	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	windowpanes	windowpane	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
58	draw	draw	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	52	parataxis	_	_
59	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	60	amod	_	_
60	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	obj	_	_
61	on	on	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	important	important	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	63	amod	_	_
63	papers	paper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
65	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	conj	_	_
66	over	over	ADP	IN	_	70	case	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	70	det	_	_
68	flower	flower	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	70	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	68	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	beds	bed	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	65	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	72	punct	_	_
72	eat	eat	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	58	conj	_	_
73	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	72	obj	_	_
74	sick	sick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	72	xcomp	_	_
75	with	with	ADP	IN	_	76	case	_	_
76	gooseberries	gooseberry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	74	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
77	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	83	punct	_	_
78	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	83	cc	_	_
79	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	83	cop	_	_
80	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	79	advmod	_	_
81	after	after	ADP	IN	_	83	case	_	_
82	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	83	det	_	_
83	whipping	whipping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
84	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | can | Walter | cartwheels |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent cartwheel=Theme |
| 2 | **stand** | infinitive | Walter *not said here* |  |  | Walter's head |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on head=Location |
| 3 | **ride** | infinitive | Walter *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **see** | infinitive | Walter *not said here* | saw |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer saw=Stimulus |
| 5 | **throw** | infinitive | Walter *not said here* | snowballs |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent snowball=Theme |
| 6 | **play** | infinitive |  | ball |  |  |  | crow like a cock *obl* | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ball=Theme |
| 7 | **eat** | infinitive |  | bread and butter |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bread=Patient |
| 8 | **drink** | infinitive |  | sour milk |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent milk=Patient |
| 9 | **tear** | infinitive |  | Walter's trousers |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location trousers=Theme |
| 10 | **wear** | infinitive | Walter *not said here* | holes |  | Walter's elbows |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent hole=Source |
| 11 | **break** | infinitive | Walter *not said here* | the crockery |  | pieces |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer crockery=Patient |
| 12 | **throw** | present |  | balls |  | the windowpanes |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent ball=Theme through windowpane=Destination |
| 13 | **draw** | present |  | old men |  | important papers |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent man=Theme on paper=Destination |
| 14 | **walk** | infinitive |  |  |  | the flower beds |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over bed=Trajectory |
| 15 | **eat** | present |  | Walter |  |  |  | sick *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent himself=Patient |
| 16 | **is** | infinitive |  |  |  |  | after a whipping |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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