--- title: But there had not been much hay in the barn for the last two years,… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But there had not been much hay in the barn for the last two years, for every St. John’s eve, when the grass was in the height of its vigor, it was all eaten clean up, just as if a whole flock of sheep had gnawed it down to the ground during the night. Who acts: grass. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/48/2/) [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/) / [The Princess on the Glass Hill](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/48/) / 2 # The Blue Fairy Book, The Princess on the Glass Hill, sentence 2 But there had not been much hay in the barn for the last two years, for every St. John’s eve, when the grass was in the height of its vigor, it was all eaten clean up, just as if a whole flock of sheep had gnawed it down to the ground during the night. **Who acts:** grass · **What happens:** have, not be, be, eat, clean up, gnaw down · **To what, where:** eve, much hay, barn, height, grass, whole flock This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess on the Glass Hill. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grass), 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:pg503:48:2 # text = But there had not been much hay in the barn for the last two years, for every St. John’s eve, when the grass was in the height of its vigor, it was all eaten clean up, just as if a whole flock of sheep had gnawed it down to the ground during the night. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 3 cc _ _ 2 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 3 expl _ _ 3 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 7 advmod _ _ 5 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 7 cop _ _ 6 much much ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 hay hay NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ _ 8 in in ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 barn barn NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nmod _ _ 11 for for ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 13 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 14 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 15 nummod _ _ 15 years year NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 17 for for ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 18 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 20 det _ _ 19 St. St. PROPN NNP Number=Sing 20 nmod:desc _ _ 20 John John PROPN NNP Number=Sing 22 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ’s 's PART POS _ 20 case _ _ 22 eve eve NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 24 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 30 advmod _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 grass grass NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nsubj _ _ 27 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 cop _ _ 28 in in ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 height height NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 appos _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 33 nmod:poss _ _ 33 vigor vigor NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 35 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj:pass _ _ 36 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 aux:pass _ _ 37 all all ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 38 eaten eat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 xcomp _ _ 39 clean clean VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 parataxis _ _ 40 up up ADP RP _ 39 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 51 punct _ _ 42 just just ADV RB _ 51 advmod _ _ 43 as as SCONJ IN _ 51 mark _ _ 44 if if SCONJ IN _ 51 mark _ _ 45 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 46 whole whole ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 47 amod _ _ 47 flock flock NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 nsubj:pass _ _ 48 of of ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 49 sheep sheep NOUN NNS Number=Plur 47 nmod _ _ 50 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 51 aux _ _ 51 gnawed gnaw VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 conj _ _ 52 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 51 obj _ _ 53 down down ADP RP _ 51 compound:prt _ _ 54 to to ADP IN _ 56 case _ _ 55 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 56 det _ _ 56 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 obl _ _ 57 during during ADP IN _ 59 case _ _ 58 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 59 det _ _ 59 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 60 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **have** | past | | every John St.'s eve | | there | year | | tree rules | | 2 | **not** **is a** | participle | | much hay | | the barn | | | tree rules | | 3 | **is** | past | the grass | | | the height | | of barn's vigor | tree rules | | 4 | **eat** | past · passive | | grass | | | | all *property* | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient | | 5 | **clean up** | infinitive | | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | | 6 | **gnaw down** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive | | a whole flock of sheep | | | night | to the ground | tree rules | 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 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/48/1/) - next →: [sentence 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/48/3/) - ↑ back to [The Princess on the Glass Hill](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg503/48/)