---
title: The fir-tree was placed in a great tub filled with sand, but no one… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The fir-tree was placed in a great tub filled with sand, but no one could see that it was a tub, for it was all hung with greenery and stood on a gay carpet. Who acts: one, sand. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 11, with its dependency tree and the pragma
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/11/58/)

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 11, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fir-tree was placed in a great tub filled with sand, but no one could see that it was a tub, for it was all hung with greenery and stood on a gay carpet.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** one, sand · **What happens:** place, fill, see, be, hang, stand · **To what, where:** fir tree, great tub, tub, sand, gay carpet · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, sand), 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:pg5615:11:58
# text = The fir-tree was placed in a great tub filled with sand, but no one could see that it was a tub, for it was all hung with greenery and stood on a gay carpet.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	fir	fir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	placed	place	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	tub	tub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
11	filled	fill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
16	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	17	det	_	_
17	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
18	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	tub	tub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux:pass	_	_
29	all	all	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	hung	hang	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	greenery	greenery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	conj	_	_
35	on	on	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	gay	gay	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	carpet	carpet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **place** | past · passive |  | the fir tree |  | a great tub |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in tub=Destination |
| 2 | **fill** | participle |  | a great tub *not said here* |  |  |  | with sand | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with sand=Instrument |
| 3 | **see** | could | no one |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is a** | past | sand | a tub |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **hang** | past · passive |  | sand |  |  |  | with greenery; all *property* | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with greenery=Instrument |
| 6 | **stand** | past |  |  |  | a gay carpet |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on carpet=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 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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