--- title: And a servant came and cut the tree into small pieces, there was qui… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: And a servant came and cut the tree into small pieces, there was quite a bundle of them; they flickered brightly under the great copper in the brew-house; the tree sighed deeply, and each sigh was like a pistol-shot; so the children who were playing there ran up, and sat in front of the fire, gazing --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/12/11/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Pink Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/) / [The Pink Fairy Book, part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/12/) / 11 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 12, sentence 11 And a servant came and cut the tree into small pieces, there was quite a bundle of them; they flickered brightly under the great copper in the brew-house; the tree sighed deeply, and each sigh was like a pistol-shot; so the children who were playing there ran up, and sat in front of the fire, gazing at it, and crying, ‘Piff! puff! bang!’ **Who acts:** servant, bundle, pieces, tree, sigh, children · **What happens:** come, cut, be, flicker, sigh, play · **To what, where:** tree, small pieces, great copper, front This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (servant, bundle, pieces, tree), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg5615:12:11 # text = And a servant came and cut the tree into small pieces, there was quite a bundle of them; they flickered brightly under the great copper in the brew-house; the tree sighed deeply, and each sigh was like a pistol-shot; so the children who were playing there ran up, and sat in front of the fire, gazing at it, and crying, ‘Piff! puff! bang!’ 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 2 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 servant servant NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 and and CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 6 cut cut VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ _ 9 into into ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 pieces piece NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 14 punct _ _ 13 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 14 expl _ _ 14 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 15 quite quite DET PDT PronType=Ind 17 det:predet _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 bundle bundle NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 18 of of ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 19 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 20 ; ; PUNCT : _ 22 punct _ _ 21 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 flickered flicker VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 23 brightly brightly ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 24 under under ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 26 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 27 amod _ _ 27 copper copper NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ _ 28 in in ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 30 brew brew NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 31 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 30 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 32 house house NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 33 ; ; PUNCT : _ 36 punct _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nsubj _ _ 36 sighed sigh VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 conj _ _ 37 deeply deeply ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 38 , , PUNCT , _ 47 punct _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 47 cc _ _ 40 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 41 det _ _ 41 sigh sigh NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 nsubj _ _ 42 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 47 cop _ _ 43 like like ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 44 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 45 pistol pistol NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 46 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 45 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 47 shot shot NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 ; ; PUNCT , _ 56 punct _ _ 49 so so ADV RB _ 56 advmod _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 56 nsubj _ _ 52 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 54 nsubj _ _ 53 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 54 aux _ _ 54 playing play VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 51 acl:relcl _ _ 55 there there ADV RB PronType=Dem 54 advmod _ _ 56 ran run VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 57 up up ADP RP _ 56 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 58 , , PUNCT , _ 60 punct _ _ 59 and and CCONJ CC _ 60 cc _ _ 60 sat sit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 61 in in ADP IN _ 62 case _ _ 62 front front NOUN NN Number=Sing 60 obl _ _ 63 of of ADP IN _ 65 case _ _ 64 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 65 det _ _ 65 fire fire NOUN NN Number=Sing 62 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 66 , , PUNCT , _ 67 punct _ _ 67 gazing gaze VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 60 advcl _ _ 68 at at ADP IN _ 69 case _ _ 69 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 67 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 70 , , PUNCT , _ 77 punct _ _ 71 and and CCONJ CC _ 77 cc _ _ 72 crying cry VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 77 csubj _ SpaceAfter=No 73 , , PUNCT , _ 72 punct _ _ 74 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 75 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 75 Piff Piff PROPN NNP Number=Sing 77 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 76 ! ! PUNCT . _ 75 punct _ _ 77 puff puff NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 78 ! ! PUNCT . _ 79 punct _ _ 79 bang bang NOUN NN Number=Sing 77 appos _ SpaceAfter=No 80 ! ! PUNCT . _ 79 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 81 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 77 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **come** | past | a servant | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **cut** | past | a servant *not said here* | the tree | | small pieces | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent tree=Material into piece=Product | | 3 | **be** | past | quite bundle of pieces | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **flicker** | past | pieces *= piece* | | | the great copper in the brew house | | brightly *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme under copper=Location | | 5 | **sigh** | past | the tree | | | | | deeply *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is** | past | each sigh | | | | | like a pistol shot | tree rules | | 7 | **play** | past · progressive | the children | | | there | | | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **run up** | past | the children | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 9 | **sit** | past | a servant *not said here* | | | front of the fire | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in front=Location | | 10 | **gaze** | gerund | a servant *not said here* | | | | | at sigh | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at it=Theme | | 11 | **cry** *speech: express* | gerund | | | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/12/10/) - next →: [sentence 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/12/12/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/12/)