---
title: But I soon set them at ease, for, cutting the strings he was bound w… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But I soon set them at ease, for, cutting the strings he was bound with, I put him gently on the ground, and away he ran. Who acts: I, colonel. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter II, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Chapter II, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But I soon set them at ease, for, cutting the strings he was bound with, I put him gently on the ground, and away he ran.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, colonel · **What happens:** set, cut, bind, put, run · **To what, where:** officers, ease, strings, colonel, ground

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Chapter II. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, colonel), 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:pg503:44:5
# text = But I soon set them at ease, for, cutting the strings he was bound with, I put him gently on the ground, and away he ran.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
4	set	set	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	ease	ease	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
9	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	cutting	cut	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	strings	string	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	bound	bind	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	acl:relcl	_	_
17	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
19	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	gently	gently	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	away	away	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set** | present | I | officers *= officer* |  | ease |  | soon *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme at ease=Destination |
| 2 | **cut** | gerund | I *not said here* | the strings |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset string=Product |
| 3 | **bind** | past · passive |  | colonel |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 4 | **put** | past | I | colonel |  | the ground |  | gently *property* | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme on ground=Destination |
| 5 | **run** | past | colonel |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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