---
title: Nine hundred of the strongest men were employed to draw up these cor… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Nine hundred of the strongest men were employed to draw up these cords by pulleys fastened on the poles, and in less than three hours I was raised and slung into the engine, and there tied fast. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter I, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter I, sentence 60

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Nine hundred of the strongest men were employed to draw up these cords by pulleys fastened on the poles, and in less than three hours I was raised and slung into the engine, and there tied fast.

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**What happens:** employ, draw up, fasten, raise, sling, tie · **To what, where:** Nine hundred, cords, pulleys, I, engine

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter I. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg503:43:60
# text = Nine hundred of the strongest men were employed to draw up these cords by pulleys fastened on the poles, and in less than three hours I was raised and slung into the engine, and there tied fast.
1	Nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	compound	_	_
2	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	strongest	strong	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	amod	_	_
6	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
8	employed	employ	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	draw	draw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	up	up	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	these	this	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	13	det	_	_
13	cords	cord	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	pulleys	pulley	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
16	fastened	fasten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	poles	pole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
22	in	in	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
23	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp|ExtPos=ADV	25	advmod	_	_
24	than	than	ADP	IN	_	23	fixed	_	_
25	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	nummod	_	_
26	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	raised	raise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	parataxis	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	slung	sling	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	29	conj	_	_
32	into	into	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	engine	engine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	38	advmod	_	_
38	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	conj	_	_
39	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	38	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **employ** | past · passive |  | Nine hundred |  |  |  | of the strongest men | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **draw up** | to-infinitive |  | this cords |  |  |  | by pulleys | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cord=Theme |
| 3 | **fasten** | participle |  | pulleys *not said here* |  |  |  | on the poles | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle PP»: agent=Patient on pole=Co-Patient |
| 4 | **raise** | past · passive |  | I |  |  | hour |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **sling** | participle |  |  |  | the engine |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent into engine=Destination |
| 6 | **tie** | participle |  |  |  | there |  | fast *property* | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=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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