---
title: First they went over the bridge, and then past the trunk of the birc… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: First they went over the bridge, and then past the trunk of the birch tree, and then past the old hag who sat in the cleft of the rock spinning, and they went by so fast that Cinderlad could not hear what the old hag screeched after him, but just heard enough to understand that she was terribly enra
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Seven Foals, sentence 101

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
First they went over the bridge, and then past the trunk of the birch tree, and then past the old hag who sat in the cleft of the rock spinning, and they went by so fast that Cinderlad could not hear what the old hag screeched after him, but just heard enough to understand that she was terribly enraged.

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**Who acts:** foals, old hag, rock, Cinderlad · **What happens:** go, sit, spin, not hear, screech, hear · **To what, where:** bridge, cleft, old hag, hag

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Seven Foals. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (foals, old hag, rock, Cinderlad), 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:pg540:49:101
# text = First they went over the bridge, and then past the trunk of the birch tree, and then past the old hag who sat in the cleft of the rock spinning, and they went by so fast that Cinderlad could not hear what the old hag screeched after him, but just heard enough to understand that she was terribly enraged.
1	First	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	over	over	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	bridge	bridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	12	advmod	_	_
10	past	past	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	birch	birch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
19	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	_
20	past	past	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	hag	hag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
24	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
25	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	cleft	cleft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	_
32	spinning	spin	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	31	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
37	by	by	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	so	so	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	36	obl	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
41	Cinderlad	Cinderlad	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	44	nsubj	_	_
42	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
43	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	44	advmod	_	_
44	hear	hear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	advcl	_	_
45	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	44	obj	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	amod	_	_
48	hag	hag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
49	screeched	screech	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	48	acl	_	_
50	after	after	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
53	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
54	just	just	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
55	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
56	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	_
57	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
58	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	advcl	_	_
59	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	63	mark	_	_
60	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	63	nsubj:pass	_	_
61	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	63	aux:pass	_	_
62	terribly	terribly	ADV	RB	_	63	advmod	_	_
63	enraged	enrage	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	58	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past | foals *= foal* |  |  | the bridge |  | past the trunk of the birch tree; past the old hag; first *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location PP.destination»: agent=Theme over bridge=Initial\_Location past trunk=Destination |
| 2 | **sit** | past | the old hag |  |  | the cleft of the rock |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in cleft=Location |
| 3 | **spin** | gerund | the rock *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **go** | past | foals *= foal* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme by fast=Location |
| 5 | **not** **hear** | could | Cinderlad |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 6 | **screech** | participle |  | the old hag *not said here* |  |  | after Cinderlad |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **hear** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | enough *property* | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **understand** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 9 | **enrage** | past · passive |  | hag |  |  |  | terribly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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