---
title: Then Halvor cut off the first head, and after that the others, but t… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then Halvor cut off the first head, and after that the others, but the last was the toughest of them all, and it was the hardest work that Halvor had ever done to get it off, but he still believed that he would have strength enough to do it. Who acts: Halvor, last, blood, strength. A sentence of «Th
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Soria Moria Castle, sentence 69

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then Halvor cut off the first head, and after that the others, but the last was the toughest of them all, and it was the hardest work that Halvor had ever done to get it off, but he still believed that he would have strength enough to do it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Halvor, last, blood, strength · **What happens:** cut off, be, do, get off, believe, have · **To what, where:** first head, hardest work, blood, strength · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Soria Moria Castle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Halvor, last, blood, strength), 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:pg540:6:69
# text = Then Halvor cut off the first head, and after that the others, but the last was the toughest of them all, and it was the hardest work that Halvor had ever done to get it off, but he still believed that he would have strength enough to do it.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	Halvor	Halvor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
3	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	off	off	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	7	amod	_	_
7	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
10	after	after	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	fixed	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	toughest	tough	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	3	advcl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	_
23	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	22	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	hardest	hard	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	30	amod	_	_
30	work	work	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
31	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	obj	_	_
32	Halvor	Halvor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
33	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	35	advmod	_	_
35	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	30	acl:relcl	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	advcl	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	off	off	ADP	RP	_	37	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
41	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
42	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
43	still	still	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	believed	believe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
45	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	48	mark	_	_
46	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
47	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	48	aux	_	_
48	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	ccomp	_	_
49	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obj	_	_
50	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
51	to	to	PART	TO	_	52	mark	_	_
52	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	48	xcomp	_	_
53	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	52	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cut off** | past | Halvor | the first head |  |  | after the others; then |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector head=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | past | the last |  |  |  |  | of heads *= head*; tough *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | blood | the hardest work |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **do** | past · perfect | Halvor | the hardest work |  |  | ever |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality |
| 5 | **get off** | to-infinitive | Halvor *not said here* | blood |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 6 | **believe** | past | Halvor |  |  |  | still |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **have** | would | Halvor | strength |  |  |  | enough *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **do** | to-infinitive | strength *not said here* | blood |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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