---
title: He fixed an iron spike into one of the beams of the roof, and ran hi… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He fixed an iron spike into one of the beams of the roof, and ran his head against this till he had knocked several large pieces off his head. Who acts: father, till. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 16, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ever
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 16, sentence 100

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He fixed an iron spike into one of the beams of the roof, and ran his head against this till he had knocked several large pieces off his head.

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**Who acts:** father, till · **What happens:** fix, run, knock, beam · **To what, where:** iron spike, head, till, father, roof

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, till), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg5615:16:100
# text = He fixed an iron spike into one of the beams of the roof, and ran his head against this till he had knocked several large pieces off his head.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	fixed	fix	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	iron	iron	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	spike	spike	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	into	into	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	beams	beam	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	against	against	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
21	till	till	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	knocked	knock	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl:relcl	_	_
25	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
26	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
28	off	off	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fix** | past | father | a iron spike |  |  |  | into one of the beams of the roof | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent spike=Patient into one=Co-Patient |
| 2 | **run** | past | father *not said here* | father's head |  | this till |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent head=Theme against till=Trajectory |
| 3 | **knock** | past · perfect · passive | this till *not said here* | father |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Destination piece=Theme |
| 4 | **beam** |  |  | the roof |  |  |  |  | nom beam «communication transitive»: of=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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