--- title: When she returned she brought with her a skein of thread, three time… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: When she returned she brought with her a skein of thread, three times as big as herself; it was so fine that a breath of air would break it, and so tangled that it was impossible to see the beginning or the end of it. Who acts: Fairy, breath. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Gracio --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/24/66/) [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/) / [Graciosa and Percinet, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/24/) / 66 # The Red Fairy Book, Graciosa and Percinet, part 2, sentence 66 When she returned she brought with her a skein of thread, three times as big as herself; it was so fine that a breath of air would break it, and so tangled that it was impossible to see the beginning or the end of it. **Who acts:** Fairy, breath · **What happens:** return, bring, be, break, tangle, see · **To what, where:** skein, beginning This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Graciosa and Percinet, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Fairy, breath), 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:pg540:24:66 # text = When she returned she brought with her a skein of thread, three times as big as herself; it was so fine that a breath of air would break it, and so tangled that it was impossible to see the beginning or the end of it. 1 When when ADV WRB PronType=Int 3 advmod _ _ 2 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 returned return VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 advcl _ _ 4 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 5 brought bring VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 6 with with ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 7 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 obl _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 skein skein NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obj _ _ 10 of of ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 11 thread thread NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 13 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 14 nummod _ _ 14 times time NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 appos _ _ 15 as as ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ _ 16 big big ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 14 amod _ _ 17 as as ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 herself herself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 ; ; PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 20 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 expl _ _ 21 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 cop _ _ 22 so so ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 23 fine fine ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 conj _ _ 24 that that SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 breath breath NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nsubj _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 air air NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nmod _ _ 29 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 30 aux _ _ 30 break break VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 advcl _ _ 31 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 30 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 35 punct _ _ 33 and and CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 34 so so ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ _ 35 tangled tangle VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 23 parataxis _ _ 36 that that SCONJ IN _ 39 mark _ _ 37 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 expl _ _ 38 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 cop _ _ 39 impossible impossible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 35 ccomp _ _ 40 to to PART TO _ 41 mark _ _ 41 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 39 csubj _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 beginning beginning NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obj _ _ 44 or or CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 end end NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 conj _ _ 47 of of ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 48 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 49 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **return** | past | Fairy | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **bring** | past | Fairy | a skein of thread | | | | with Princess | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent skein=Theme | | 3 | **is** | past | Fairy *not said here* | | | | | fine *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **break** | would | a breath of air | skein | | | | | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Patient | | 5 | **tangle** | past | | | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **is** | past | | | | | | impossible *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **see** | to-infinitive | | the beginning or the end of breath | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer beginning=Stimulus | 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 65](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/24/65/) - next →: [sentence 67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/24/67/) - ↑ back to [Graciosa and Percinet, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/24/)