---
title: But her brother was already kneeling by the brook and bending over i… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But her brother was already kneeling by the brook and bending over it to drink, and, sure enough, no sooner had his lips touched the water than he fell on the grass transformed into a little Roebuck. Who acts: brother, lips. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Brother and Sister, with
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Brother and Sister, sentence 30

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But her brother was already kneeling by the brook and bending over it to drink, and, sure enough, no sooner had his lips touched the water than he fell on the grass transformed into a little Roebuck.

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**Who acts:** brother, lips · **What happens:** kneel, bend, drink, have, touch, fall · **To what, where:** brook, water, grass

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Brother and Sister. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brother, lips), 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:pg540:10:30
# text = But her brother was already kneeling by the brook and bending over it to drink, and, sure enough, no sooner had his lips touched the water than he fell on the grass transformed into a little Roebuck.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	already	already	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	kneeling	kneel	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	brook	brook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	bending	bend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	conj	_	_
12	over	over	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	drink	drink	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	parataxis	_	_
20	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	23	det	_	_
23	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	24	advmod	_	_
24	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	parataxis	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	lips	lip	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	_
27	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	ccomp	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
33	on	on	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
36	transformed	transform	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	acl	_	_
37	into	into	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
39	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
40	Roebuck	Roebuck	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	36	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **kneel** | past · progressive | roe's brother |  |  |  |  | by the brook | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent by brook=Location |
| 2 | **bend** | gerund | roe's brother *not said here* |  |  | brook |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over it=Location |
| 3 | **drink** | to-infinitive | roe's brother *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **have** | past |  |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **touch** | past | Brother's lips | the water |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme water=Co-Theme |
| 6 | **fall** | past | Brother |  |  | the grass |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on grass=Location |
| 7 | **transform** | participle |  | the grass *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn turn-26.6.1 «NP V»: 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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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