---
title: When the sweet-wort was ready they were all, as a matter of course,… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the sweet-wort was ready they were all, as a matter of course, anxious to taste it, first the Troll himself and then the others; but Minnikin had brewed the wort so strong that they all fell down dead like so many flies as soon as they had drunk any of it. Who acts: sweet wort, pieces, Minnikin
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Mother Holle, part 3, sentence 43

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When the sweet-wort was ready they were all, as a matter of course, anxious to taste it, first the Troll himself and then the others; but Minnikin had brewed the wort so strong that they all fell down dead like so many flies as soon as they had drunk any of it.

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**Who acts:** sweet wort, pieces, Minnikin, course · **What happens:** be, taste, brew, fall down, drink, matter · **To what, where:** wort, pieces

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sweet wort, pieces, Minnikin, course), 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:pg540:46:43
# text = When the sweet-wort was ready they were all, as a matter of course, anxious to taste it, first the Troll himself and then the others; but Minnikin had brewed the wort so strong that they all fell down dead like so many flies as soon as they had drunk any of it.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	sweet	sweet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	wort	wort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
7	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	all	all	ADV	RB	_	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	as	as	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	parataxis	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	anxious	anxious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	conj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	taste	taste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	25	advmod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	Troll	troll	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	_
26	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	25	appos	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	Minnikin	Minnikin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	brewed	brew	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	wort	wort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
38	so	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	xcomp	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	41	det	_	_
43	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	advcl	_	_
44	down	down	ADP	RP	_	43	compound:prt	_	_
45	dead	dead	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	xcomp	_	_
46	like	like	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	so	so	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	flies	fly	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	_
50	as	as	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	43	advmod	_	_
52	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	55	mark	_	_
53	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	nsubj:pass	_	_
54	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	drunk	drink	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	51	advcl	_	_
56	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	55	obj	_	_
57	of	of	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
58	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the sweet wort |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | pieces *= piece* |  |  |  |  | all *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **taste** | to-infinitive | the sweet wort *not said here* | wort |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Theme it=Attribute |
| 4 | **brew** | past · perfect | Minnikin | the wort |  |  |  | strong *property* | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wort=Product |
| 5 | **fall down** | past | pieces *= piece* |  |  |  |  | like many flies; dead, soon *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **drink** | past · perfect · passive |  | pieces *= piece* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **matter** |  | course |  |  |  |  |  | nom matter «cognition intransitive»: of=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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