---
title: It was such a happy time that the pieces of ice even danced round th… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was such a happy time that the pieces of ice even danced round them for joy, and when they were tired and lay down again they formed themselves into the letters that the Snow-queen had said he must spell in order to become his own master and have the whole world and a new pair of skates. Who acts
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 10, sentence 128

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was such a happy time that the pieces of ice even danced round them for joy, and when they were tired and lay down again they formed themselves into the letters that the Snow-queen had said he must spell in order to become his own master and have the whole world and a new pair of skates.

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**Who acts:** joy, pieces, ice, Snow queen, Kay · **What happens:** be, dance, lay down, form, say, spell · **To what, where:** happy time, ice, letters, own master, whole world · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (joy, pieces, ice, Snow queen), 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:pg5615:10:128
# text = It was such a happy time that the pieces of ice even danced round them for joy, and when they were tired and lay down again they formed themselves into the letters that the Snow-queen had said he must spell in order to become his own master and have the whole world and a new pair of skates.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	6	det:predet	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	even	even	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	danced	dance	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
14	round	round	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	joy	joy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
20	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	23	mark	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	parataxis	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	conj	_	_
26	down	down	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	again	again	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	formed	form	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
30	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	29	obj	_	_
31	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	letters	letter	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	_
34	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	obj	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
36	Snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
39	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	33	acl:relcl	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	spell	spell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	ccomp	_	_
44	in	in	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	47	mark	_	_
45	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	fixed	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	become	become	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	43	advcl	_	_
48	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	50	nmod:poss	_	_
49	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	master	master	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	xcomp	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
52	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	conj	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
54	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	obj	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	59	cc	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	59	det	_	_
58	new	new	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	59	amod	_	_
59	pair	pair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	conj	_	_
60	of	of	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	skates	skate	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	59	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | joy | such happy time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **dance** | past | the pieces of ice |  |  |  |  | round ice; for joy | vn waltz-51.5 «NP V PP.trajectory PP.goal»: agent=Theme round they=Trajectory |
| 3 | **is** | past | ice |  |  |  |  | tired *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **lay down** | infinitive | ice *not said here* |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **form** | past | ice | ice |  | the letters | again |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location themselves=Theme |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | the Snow queen | the letters |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **spell** | must | Kay |  |  |  |  |  | vn pronounce-29.3.1 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **become** | to-infinitive | Kay *not said here* | Kay's own master |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 9 | **have** | present | Kay *not said here* | the whole world and a new pair of skates |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent world=Patient |

<!-- .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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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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