---
title: Now it happened that as they were going down the hill they stumbled… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now it happened that as they were going down the hill they stumbled over a bush, and jolted the coffin so violently that the poisonous bit of apple Snowdrop had swallowed fell out of her throat. Who acts: it, servants, Snowdrop, poisonous bit. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Bushy
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Bushy Bride, sentence 268

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now it happened that as they were going down the hill they stumbled over a bush, and jolted the coffin so violently that the poisonous bit of apple Snowdrop had swallowed fell out of her throat.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** it, servants, Snowdrop, poisonous bit · **What happens:** happen, go down, stumble, jolt, swallow, fall · **To what, where:** hill, bush, coffin, poisonous bit, throat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Bushy Bride. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, servants, Snowdrop, poisonous bit), 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:pg540:47:268
# text = Now it happened that as they were going down the hill they stumbled over a bush, and jolted the coffin so violently that the poisonous bit of apple Snowdrop had swallowed fell out of her throat.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	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	_	8	mark	_	_
5	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	stumbled	stumble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
14	over	over	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	jolted	jolt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	coffin	coffin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	violently	violently	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	poisonous	poisonous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	apple	apple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
30	Snowdrop	Snowdrop	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	swallowed	swallow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	27	acl:relcl	_	_
33	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
34	out	out	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	throat	throat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | it |  |  |  | now |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **go down** | past · progressive | servants *= servant* | the hill |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.patient V NP.extent PP.source PP.goal»: agent=Patient hill=Extent |
| 3 | **stumble** | past | servants *= servant* | the hill *not said here* |  | a bush |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location hill=Theme |
| 4 | **jolt** | past |  | the coffin |  |  |  | violently *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus coffin=Experiencer |
| 5 | **swallow** | past · perfect | Snowdrop | the poisonous bit of apple *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn gobble-39.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bit=Patient |
| 6 | **fall** | past | the poisonous bit of apple |  |  | SNOWDROP's throat |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme out throat=Location |

<!-- .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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