---
title: It was first a slow, caressing sound, then more and more lively and… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was first a slow, caressing sound, then more and more lively and urgent, and so sonorous and piercing that it penetrated as far as the farthest alleys and retreats of the town. Who acts: horizon. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Ratcatcher, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Ratcatcher, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was first a slow, caressing sound, then more and more lively and urgent, and so sonorous and piercing that it penetrated as far as the farthest alleys and retreats of the town.

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**Who acts:** horizon · **What happens:** be, caress, pierce, penetrate · **To what, where:** sound

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Ratcatcher. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (horizon), 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:pg540:32:37
# text = It was first a slow, caressing sound, then more and more lively and urgent, and so sonorous and piercing that it penetrated as far as the farthest alleys and retreats of the town.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	5	advmod	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	slow	slow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	caressing	caress	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
8	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
11	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	14	advmod	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	14	advmod	_	_
14	lively	lively	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	urgent	urgent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	sonorous	sonorous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	piercing	pierce	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	conj	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	penetrated	penetrate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
26	as	as	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	25	advmod	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	farthest	far	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	31	amod	_	_
31	alleys	alley	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obl	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	retreats	retreat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	conj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | horizon |  |  |  |  | first, slow *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **caress** | gerund | horizon *not said here* | sound |  |  |  |  | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sound=Experiencer |
| 3 | **be** |  | horizon *not said here* |  |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **be** |  | horizon *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **pierce** | gerund | horizon *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn poke-19-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **penetrate** | past | horizon |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn poke-19 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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