---
title: So they began to straggle homeward, but when they had got a little w… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So they began to straggle homeward, but when they had got a little way up the hill they met the herrings and pottage and bread, all pouring forth and winding about one over the other, and the man himself in front of the flood. Who acts: herrings, all. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew La
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Why the Sea Is Salt, sentence 46

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So they began to straggle homeward, but when they had got a little way up the hill they met the herrings and pottage and bread, all pouring forth and winding about one over the other, and the man himself in front of the flood.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** herrings, all · **What happens:** begin, straggle, get, meet, pour, wind · **To what, where:** Man, homeward, little way, herrings

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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 (herrings, all), 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:pg503:20:46
# text = So they began to straggle homeward, but when they had got a little way up the hill they met the herrings and pottage and bread, all pouring forth and winding about one over the other, and the man himself in front of the flood.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	straggle	straggle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	homeward	homeward	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	up	up	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	acl:relcl	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	herrings	herring	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	pottage	pottage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	bread	bread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	29	nsubj	_	_
29	pouring	pour	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
30	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	winding	wind	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	29	conj	_	_
33	about	about	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	obl	_	_
35	over	over	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
42	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obl	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	_
45	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	flood	flood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | herrings *= herring* | Man |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **straggle** | to-infinitive | herrings *= herring* *not said here* | homeward |  |  |  |  | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location homeward=Theme |
| 3 | **get** | past · perfect | herrings *= herring* | a little way up the hill |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **meet** | past | herrings *= herring* | the herrings and pottage and bread |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent herring=Co-Agent |
| 5 | **pour** | gerund | all |  |  |  |  | forth *property* | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source |
| 6 | **wind** | gerund | all *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about one over the other | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme about one=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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