---
title: When the man came out again into the yard, he asked the old wood-cut… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the man came out again into the yard, he asked the old wood-cutter how he was to stop the hand-mill, and when he had learned that, he thanked him and set off home with all the speed he could, but did not get there until after the clock had struck twelve on Christmas Eve. Who acts: man. A senten
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Why the Sea Is Salt, sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the man came out again into the yard, he asked the old wood-cutter how he was to stop the hand-mill, and when he had learned that, he thanked him and set off home with all the speed he could, but did not get there until after the clock had struck twelve on Christmas Eve.

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**Who acts:** man · **What happens:** come out, ask, be, learn, thank, set off · **To what, where:** old wood cutter, mill, twelve · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Why the Sea Is Salt. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man), 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:pg503:20:23
# text = When the man came out again into the yard, he asked the old wood-cutter how he was to stop the hand-mill, and when he had learned that, he thanked him and set off home with all the speed he could, but did not get there until after the clock had struck twelve on Christmas Eve.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
5	out	out	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	again	again	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
14	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
15	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	cutter	cutter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
18	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl:relcl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
24	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
29	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	32	advmod	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	learned	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	conj	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	thanked	thank	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	ccomp	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
39	set	set	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
40	off	off	ADP	RP	_	39	compound:prt	_	_
41	home	home	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
42	with	with	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
43	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	45	det:predet	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
47	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
49	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
50	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
51	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	52	advmod	_	_
52	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
53	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	52	advmod	_	_
54	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	59	mark	_	_
55	after	after	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
56	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
57	clock	clock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	_
58	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	52	advcl	_	_
60	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	59	obj	_	_
61	on	on	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	Christmas	Christmas	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	63	compound	_	_
63	Eve.	Eve.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come out** | past | the man |  |  |  | again | into the yard; out *property* | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | Man | the old wood cutter |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent cutter=Recipient |
| 3 | **is** | past | Man | the old wood cutter *not said here* |  |  |  | stop *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **learn** | past · perfect | Man |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **thank** *speech: thank* | past | Man |  | mill |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 6 | **set off** | infinitive | Man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with all speed; home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **get** | past · do-support | Man *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **strike** | past · perfect | Man *not said here* | twelve |  |  | after the clock | on Christmas Eve. | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent twelve=Instrument on eve.=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 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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