---
title: The trees grew very fast, and when they were as tall as a girl of fi… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The trees grew very fast, and when they were as tall as a girl of fifteen he said to the cherry laurel, ‘My lovely cherry laurel, with the golden rake I have raked thee, with the golden bucket I have watered thee, with the silken towel I have wiped thee. Who acts: trees, orders, girl, I. A sentence 
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, sentence 48

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The trees grew very fast, and when they were as tall as a girl of fifteen he said to the cherry laurel, ‘My lovely cherry laurel, with the golden rake I have raked thee, with the golden bucket I have watered thee, with the silken towel I have wiped thee.

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**Who acts:** trees, orders, girl, I · **What happens:** grow, be, say, rake, water, wipe · **To what, where:** cherry laurel, thee · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (trees, orders, girl, I), 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:pg540:2:48
# text = The trees grew very fast, and when they were as tall as a girl of fifteen he said to the cherry laurel, ‘My lovely cherry laurel, with the golden rake I have raked thee, with the golden bucket I have watered thee, with the silken towel I have wiped thee.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
8	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	12	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	as	as	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	parataxis	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	fifteen	fifteen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	cherry	cherry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	compound	_	_
23	laurel	laurel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	My	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
27	lovely	lovely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
28	cherry	cherry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	laurel	laurel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	rake	rake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	appos	_	_
35	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	raked	rake	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	34	acl:relcl	_	_
38	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
40	with	with	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	bucket	bucket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
44	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
45	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
46	watered	water	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	43	acl:relcl	_	_
47	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	46	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
49	with	with	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
51	silken	silken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	towel	towel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
53	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj	_	_
54	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	wiped	wipe	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	52	acl:relcl	_	_
56	thee	thou	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=2|PronType=Prs|Style=Arch	55	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | the trees |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | orders *= order* |  |  |  |  | tall *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | a girl of fifteen |  | the cherry laurel and My lovely cherry laurel |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V PP.recipient S-Quote»: agent=Agent to laurel=Recipient |
| 4 | **rake** | present · perfect | I | thee |  |  |  | with the golden bucket | vn wipe\_instr-10.4.2-1 «NP V NP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent thou=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **water** | present · perfect | I | thee |  |  |  | with the silken towel | vn butter-9.9 «NP V NP PP.theme»: agent=Agent thou=Destination with towel=Theme |
| 6 | **wipe** | present · perfect | I | thee |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent thou=Source |

<!-- .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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