---
title: “From behind the door,” said he who owned the mill, for he did not c… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “From behind the door,” said he who owned the mill, for he did not choose to satisfy his brother on that point; but later in the evening, when he had taken a drop too much, he could not refrain from telling how he had come by the hand-mill. Who acts: Man. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andre
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Why the Sea Is Salt, sentence 34

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“From behind the door,” said he who owned the mill, for he did not choose to satisfy his brother on that point; but later in the evening, when he had taken a drop too much, he could not refrain from telling how he had come by the hand-mill.

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**Who acts:** Man · **What happens:** say, own, not choose, satisfy, take, not refrain · **To what, where:** door, mill, brother, point, drop · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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:pg503:20:34
# text = “From behind the door,” said he who owned the mill, for he did not choose to satisfy his brother on that point; but later in the evening, when he had taken a drop too much, he could not refrain from telling how he had come by the hand-mill.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	From	from	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
3	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	nsubj	_	_
11	owned	own	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	choose	choose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	satisfy	satisfy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	det	_	_
26	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
28	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	later	late	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	32	advmod	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	37	advmod	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	32	acl:relcl	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	drop	drop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	too	too	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
44	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
45	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
46	refrain	refrain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
47	from	from	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
48	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	46	advcl	_	_
49	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	52	advmod	_	_
50	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	nsubj	_	_
51	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
52	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	48	ccomp	_	_
53	by	by	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
55	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	55	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past |  |  |  | the door | evening |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **own** | past | Man | the mill |  |  |  |  | vn own-100.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot mill=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **choose** | past · do-support | Man |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **satisfy** | to-infinitive | Man *not said here* | Man's brother |  | that point |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus brother=Experiencer |
| 5 | **take** | past · perfect | Man | a drop |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent drop=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **refrain** | could | Man |  |  |  |  |  | vn refrain-69 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund | Man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 8 | **come** | past · perfect | Man |  |  |  |  | by the hand mill | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by mill=Location |

<!-- .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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