---
title: So he threw open the parlor door, but it was not long before the mil… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So he threw open the parlor door, but it was not long before the mill had ground the parlor full too, and it was with difficulty and danger that the man could go through the stream of pottage and get hold of the door-latch. Who acts: mill, pottage, man. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew 
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Why the Sea Is Salt, sentence 42

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So he threw open the parlor door, but it was not long before the mill had ground the parlor full too, and it was with difficulty and danger that the man could go through the stream of pottage and get hold of the door-latch.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mill, pottage, man · **What happens:** throw, open, not be, have, be, go · **To what, where:** parlor door, ground, difficulty, stream, hold, door latch

<!-- .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 (mill, pottage, 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:pg503:20:42
# text = So he threw open the parlor door, but it was not long before the mill had ground the parlor full too, and it was with difficulty and danger that the man could go through the stream of pottage and get hold of the door-latch.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	open	open	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	parlor	parlor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	_
14	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	_	17	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
18	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	parlor	parlor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
21	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
22	too	too	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	difficulty	difficulty	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	conj	_	_
31	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
34	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	acl	_	_
36	through	through	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	pottage	pottage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	conj	_	_
43	hold	hold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
46	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	latch	latch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw** | past | mill |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **open** | infinitive | mill *not said here* | the parlor door |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location door=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **is** | past | pottage |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past | the mill | ground |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | pottage |  |  |  |  | with difficulty and danger | tree rules |
| 6 | **go** | could | the man | difficulty and danger *not said here* |  | the stream of pottage |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **get** | infinitive | the man *not said here* | hold of the door latch |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hold=Stimulus |
| 8 | **hold** |  |  | the door latch |  |  |  |  | nom hold «act transitive»: of=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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