---
title: But all at once, just as they were starting, the bottom of the coach… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But all at once, just as they were starting, the bottom of the coach fell in pieces. Who acts: brother, bottom. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master-maid, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Master-maid, part 3, sentence 6

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But all at once, just as they were starting, the bottom of the coach fell in pieces.

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**Who acts:** brother, bottom · **What happens:** start, fall · **To what, where:** bottom, pieces

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master-maid, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brother, bottom), 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:pg503:19:6
# text = But all at once, just as they were starting, the bottom of the coach fell in pieces.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
2	all	all	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	just	just	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
7	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	starting	start	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	coach	coach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
17	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start** | past · progressive | brother | the bottom |  |  |  | all *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **fall** | past | the bottom *not said here* |  |  | pieces |  | of the coach | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in piece=Location |

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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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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