--- title: So the mill began to grind salt, till it spouted out like water, and… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: So the mill began to grind salt, till it spouted out like water, and when the skipper had got the ship filled he wanted to stop the mill, but whichsoever way he turned it, and how much soever he tried, it went on grinding, and the heap of salt grew higher and higher, until at last the ship sank. Who --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/61/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Blue Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/) / [Why the Sea Is Salt](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/) / 61 # The Blue Fairy Book, Why the Sea Is Salt, sentence 61 So the mill began to grind salt, till it spouted out like water, and when the skipper had got the ship filled he wanted to stop the mill, but whichsoever way he turned it, and how much soever he tried, it went on grinding, and the heap of salt grew higher and higher, until at last the ship sank. **Who acts:** mill, salt, skipper, ship, heap, last ship · **What happens:** begin, grind, spout out, get, fill, want · **To what, where:** salt, mill, way, much, grinding 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, salt, skipper, ship), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg503:20:61 # text = So the mill began to grind salt, till it spouted out like water, and when the skipper had got the ship filled he wanted to stop the mill, but whichsoever way he turned it, and how much soever he tried, it went on grinding, and the heap of salt grew higher and higher, until at last the ship sank. 1 So so ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 mill mill NOUN NN _ 4 nsubj _ _ 4 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 to to PART TO _ 6 mark _ _ 6 grind grind VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 4 xcomp _ _ 7 salt salt NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 9 till till SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 10 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 spouted spout VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 12 out out ADP RP _ 11 compound:prt _ _ 13 like like ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 14 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 17 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 21 advmod _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 19 skipper skipper NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nsubj _ _ 20 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 aux _ _ 21 got get VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 4 parataxis _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 ship ship NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nsubj _ _ 24 filled fill VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 conj _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 ccomp _ _ 27 to to PART TO _ 28 mark _ _ 28 stop stop VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 26 xcomp _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 mill mill NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 32 but but CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 33 whichsoever whichsoever ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 34 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 36 turned turn VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 37 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 40 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 41 advmod _ _ 41 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 44 obj _ _ 42 soever soever ADV RB _ 44 advmod _ _ 43 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 44 nsubj _ _ 44 tried try VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 46 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 47 nsubj _ _ 47 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 48 on on ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 49 grinding grinding NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 56 punct _ _ 51 and and CCONJ CC _ 56 cc _ _ 52 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 53 heap heap NOUN NN Number=Sing 56 nsubj _ _ 54 of of ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 55 salt salt NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 nmod _ _ 56 grew grow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 57 higher high ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 56 xcomp _ _ 58 and and CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 59 higher high ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 57 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 60 , , PUNCT , _ 66 punct _ _ 61 until until SCONJ IN _ 66 mark _ _ 62 at at ADP IN _ 63 case _ _ 63 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 65 amod _ _ 64 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 65 det _ _ 65 ship ship NOUN NN Number=Sing 66 nsubj _ _ 66 sank sink VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 56 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 67 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **begin** | past | the mill | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **grind** | to-infinitive | the mill *not said here* | salt | | | | | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent salt=Patient | | 3 | **spout out** | past | salt | | | | | like water | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Source | | 4 | **get** | past · perfect | the skipper | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 5 | **fill** | past | the ship | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **want** | past | mill | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 7 | **stop** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | mill *not said here* | the mill | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality mill=Eventuality | | 8 | **turn** | past | mill | way | | | | | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 9 | **try** | past | mill | much | | | | soever *property* | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent much=Eventuality | | 10 | **go** | past | salt | | | grinding | | | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on grinding=Location | | 11 | **grow** | past | the heap of salt | | | | | high *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 12 | **sink** | past | the last ship | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 60](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/60/) - next →: [sentence 62](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/62/) - ↑ back to [Why the Sea Is Salt](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/20/)