--- title: It took them many days’ hard riding before they reached the country… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: It took them many days’ hard riding before they reached the country where the Man-eater lived, and then the horse told Ciccu to stop a group of old women who were coming chattering through the wood, and offer them each a shilling if they would collect a number of mosquitos and tie them up in a bag. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/38/30/) [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 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/38/) / 30 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 38, sentence 30 It took them many days’ hard riding before they reached the country where the Man-eater lived, and then the horse told Ciccu to stop a group of old women who were coming chattering through the wood, and offer them each a shilling if they would collect a number of mosquitos and tie them up in a bag. **Who acts:** It, many days, friends, Man eater, horse, old women · **What happens:** take, ', reach, live, tell, stop · **To what, where:** friends, hard riding, country, Ciccu, group, wood · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, many days, friends, Man eater), 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:pg5615:38:30 # text = It took them many days’ hard riding before they reached the country where the Man-eater lived, and then the horse told Ciccu to stop a group of old women who were coming chattering through the wood, and offer them each a shilling if they would collect a number of mosquitos and tie them up in a bag. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 obj _ _ 4 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 days day NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 ’ ' VERB VBP Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 2 ccomp _ _ 7 hard hard ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 amod _ _ 8 riding riding NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ _ 9 before before SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 10 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 reached reach VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 6 advcl _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 country country NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 14 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 19 advmod _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 16 Man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 17 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 16 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 18 eater eater NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 nsubj _ _ 19 lived live VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 21 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 22 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 25 advmod _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 horse horse NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nsubj _ _ 25 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 26 Ciccu Ciccu PROPN NNP Number=Sing 25 iobj _ _ 27 to to PART TO _ 28 mark _ _ 28 stop stop VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 25 xcomp _ _ 29 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 group group NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 women woman NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 nmod _ _ 34 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 36 nsubj _ _ 35 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 36 coming come VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 33 acl:relcl _ _ 37 chattering chatter VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 36 advcl _ _ 38 through through ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 wood wood NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 42 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 43 offer offer VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 25 conj _ _ 44 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 obj _ _ 45 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 47 det _ _ 46 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 47 shilling shilling NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obj _ _ 48 if if SCONJ IN _ 51 mark _ _ 49 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 51 nsubj _ _ 50 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 51 aux _ _ 51 collect collect VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 43 advcl _ _ 52 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 53 det _ _ 53 number number NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 obj _ _ 54 of of ADP IN _ 55 case _ _ 55 mosquitos mosquito NOUN NNS Number=Plur 53 nmod _ _ 56 and and CCONJ CC _ 57 cc _ _ 57 tie tie VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 51 conj _ _ 58 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 57 obj _ _ 59 up up ADP RP _ 57 compound:prt _ _ 60 in in ADP IN _ 62 case _ _ 61 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 62 det _ _ 62 bag bag NOUN NN Number=Sing 57 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 63 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **take** | past | It | friends *= friend* | | | | | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent they=Theme clause=Attribute | | 2 | **'** | present | many days | hard riding | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **reach** | past | friends *= friend* | the country | | | | | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent country=Theme | | 4 | **live** | past | the Man eater | | | | | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | the horse | | Ciccu | | then | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent ciccu=Recipient clause=Topic | | 6 | **stop** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the horse *not said here* | a group of old women | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Subeventuality group=Eventuality | | 7 | **come** | past · progressive | old women | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **chatter** | gerund | old women *not said here* | | | the wood | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through wood=Location | | 9 | **offer** | infinitive | the horse *not said here* | friends *= friend* | | | | | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent they=Goal shilling=Theme | | 10 | **collect** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | friends *= friend* | a number of mosquitos | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent number=Theme | | 11 | **tie up** | infinitive | friends *= friend* *not said here* | friends *= friend* | | a bag | | | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient | 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 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/38/29/) - next →: [sentence 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/38/31/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/38/)