---
title: They rushed at it so that all its boughs creaked; if it had not been… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They rushed at it so that all its boughs creaked; if it had not been fastened by the gold star at the top to the ceiling, it would have been overthrown. Who acts: children, boughs, gold star. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 11, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 11, sentence 83

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They rushed at it so that all its boughs creaked; if it had not been fastened by the gold star at the top to the ceiling, it would have been overthrown.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** children, boughs, gold star · **What happens:** rush, creak, not fasten, overthrow · **To what, where:** permission, top

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (children, boughs, gold star), 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:pg5615:11:83
# text = They rushed at it so that all its boughs creaked; if it had not been fastened by the gold star at the top to the ceiling, it would have been overthrown.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	rushed	rush	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	9	det:predet	_	_
8	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	boughs	bough	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	creaked	creak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	17	punct	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	fastened	fasten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	compound	_	_
21	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
22	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	ceiling	ceiling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
31	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux	_	_
32	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	overthrown	overthrow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **rush** | past | children *= child* |  |  | permission |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at it=Trajectory |
| 2 | **creak** | past | permission's boughs |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **fasten** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive | the gold star | permission |  | the top to the ceiling |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 4 | **overthrow** | would · perfect · passive |  | permission |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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