--- title: Thus it happened that she came to the bank of the river, and there s… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Thus it happened that she came to the bank of the river, and there she saw the beautiful golden hemlock growing in the middle of the bridge, and when she began to cut it down to take to her grandchild, she heard a voice moaning: Who acts: it, witch, beautiful golden hemlock, voice. A sentence of «Th --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/14/136/) [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 Red Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/) / [The Wonderful Birch](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/14/) / 136 # The Red Fairy Book, The Wonderful Birch, sentence 136 Thus it happened that she came to the bank of the river, and there she saw the beautiful golden hemlock growing in the middle of the bridge, and when she began to cut it down to take to her grandchild, she heard a voice moaning: **Who acts:** it, witch, beautiful golden hemlock, voice · **What happens:** happen, come, see, grow, begin, cut down · **To what, where:** bank, beautiful golden hemlock, middle, hemlock, voice This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Wonderful Birch. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, witch, beautiful golden hemlock, voice), 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:pg540:14:136 # text = Thus it happened that she came to the bank of the river, and there she saw the beautiful golden hemlock growing in the middle of the bridge, and when she began to cut it down to take to her grandchild, she heard a voice moaning: 1 Thus thus ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 2 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 happened happen VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 that that SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 5 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 nsubj _ _ 6 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 advcl _ _ 7 to to ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 bank bank NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obl _ _ 10 of of ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 15 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 17 advmod _ _ 16 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 17 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 18 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 19 beautiful beautiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 20 golden golden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 21 amod _ _ 21 hemlock hemlock NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obj _ _ 22 growing grow VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 21 acl _ _ 23 in in ADP IN _ 25 case _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 middle middle NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 bridge bridge NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 33 cc _ _ 31 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 33 advmod _ _ 32 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 conj _ _ 34 to to PART TO _ 35 mark _ _ 35 cut cut VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 33 xcomp _ _ 36 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 obj _ _ 37 down down ADP RP _ 35 compound:prt _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 take take VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 35 advcl _ _ 40 to to ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 41 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 42 nmod:poss _ _ 42 grandchild grandchild NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 44 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 45 nsubj _ _ 45 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 46 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 voice voice NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obj _ _ 48 moaning moan VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 47 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 49 : : PUNCT : _ 45 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **happen** | past | it | | | | | thus *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **come** | past | witch | | | the bank of the river | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to bank=Initial\_Location | | 3 | **see** | past | witch | the beautiful golden hemlock | | there | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer hemlock=Stimulus | | 4 | **grow** | gerund | the beautiful golden hemlock *not said here* | | | the middle of the bridge | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in middle=Location | | 5 | **begin** | past | witch | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 6 | **cut down** | to-infinitive | witch *not said here* | hemlock | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset it=Product | | 7 | **take** | to-infinitive | witch *not said here* | | | | | to witch's grandchild *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to grandchild=Result | | 8 | **hear** | past | witch | a voice | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer voice=Stimulus | | 9 | **moan** | gerund | a voice *not said here* | | | | | | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 135](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/14/135/) - next →: [sentence 137](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/14/137/) - ↑ back to [The Wonderful Birch](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/14/)