---
title: Then the brother was at once taken out of the snake-pit—the snakes h… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the brother was at once taken out of the snake-pit—the snakes had never touched him—and the step-mother and step-sister were flung down into it instead of him. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Bushy Bride, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Bushy Bride, sentence 94

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Then the brother was at once taken out of the snake-pit—the snakes had never touched him—and the step-mother and step-sister were flung down into it instead of him.

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**What happens:** take out, not touch, fling down · **To what, where:** brother, snake pit, snakes, step mother, pit

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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: 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:pg540:47:94
# text = Then the brother was at once taken out of the snake-pit—the snakes had never touched him—and the step-mother and step-sister were flung down into it instead of him.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
5	at	at	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	7	obl	_	_
7	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
11	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	snakes	snake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	touched	touch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
24	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	conj	_	_
31	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	flung	fling	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
33	down	down	ADP	RP	_	32	compound:prt	_	_
34	into	into	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	_
36	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	38	case	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	fixed	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take out** | past · passive |  | the brother |  | the snake pit | then |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **touch** | past · perfect · passive |  | the snakes |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer he=Result |
| 3 | **fling down** | past · passive |  | the step mother and step sister |  | pit |  | instead King | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: subject=Theme into it=Destination |

<!-- .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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