---
title: When the skipper had got the mill on his back he did not stay there… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the skipper had got the mill on his back he did not stay there long, for he was so afraid that the man would change his mind, and he had no time to ask how he was to stop it grinding, but got on board his ship as fast as he could. Who acts: skipper, mill, man. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Why the Sea Is Salt, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the skipper had got the mill on his back he did not stay there long, for he was so afraid that the man would change his mind, and he had no time to ask how he was to stop it grinding, but got on board his ship as fast as he could.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** skipper, mill, man · **What happens:** get, not stay, be, change, have, ask · **To what, where:** mill, back, mind, ship · **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 (skipper, mill, 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:pg503:20:58
# text = When the skipper had got the mill on his back he did not stay there long, for he was so afraid that the man would change his mind, and he had no time to ask how he was to stop it grinding, but got on board his ship as fast as he could.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	skipper	skipper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	mill	mill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	14	advmod	_	_
14	stay	stay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
16	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
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	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	conj	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
26	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	change	change	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
34	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	35	det	_	_
35	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	ask	ask	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	acl	_	_
38	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	42	advmod	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
40	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
41	to	to	PART	TO	_	42	mark	_	_
42	stop	stop	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	ccomp	_	_
43	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obj	_	_
44	grinding	grind	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	42	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	conj	_	_
48	on	on	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	board	board	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
52	as	as	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	47	advmod	_	_
54	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
55	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
56	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past · perfect | the skipper | the mill |  | mill's back |  |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent mill=Theme on back=Source |
| 2 | **not** **stay** | past · do-support | mill |  |  | there |  | long *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | mill |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **change** | would | the man | mill's mind |  |  |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mind=Patient |
| 5 | **have** | past | mill |  |  |  | time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **ask** *speech: ask* | to-infinitive | mill *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **is** *not said to happen* | past | mill |  |  |  |  | stop *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **grind** | gerund | mill *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 9 | **get** | past | mill *not said here* |  |  | mill's ship |  | fast *property* | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent on ship=Source |
| 10 | **mind** |  | mill |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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