---
title: So the first thing he did was to search the house for materials to m… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So the first thing he did was to search the house for materials to make an ointment, which he sprinkled plentifully with pepper and then put in his pocket. Who acts: knave, first thing, ointment. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 4, with its dependency tre
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 4, sentence 40

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the first thing he did was to search the house for materials to make an ointment, which he sprinkled plentifully with pepper and then put in his pocket.

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**Who acts:** knave, first thing, ointment · **What happens:** do, be, make, sprinkle, put · **To what, where:** first thing, ointment, pocket

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (knave, first thing, ointment), 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:pg5615:4:40
# text = So the first thing he did was to search the house for materials to make an ointment, which he sprinkled plentifully with pepper and then put in his pocket.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	amod	_	_
4	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj:outer	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	search	search	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	for	for	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	materials	material	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
16	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	ointment	ointment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
20	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
21	sprinkled	sprinkle	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
22	plentifully	plentifully	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	pepper	pepper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	27	advmod	_	_
27	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
28	in	in	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	pocket	pocket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | knave | the first thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thing=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | past | the first thing |  |  |  |  | for materials; search *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **make** | to-infinitive | the first thing *not said here* | a ointment |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset ointment=Product |
| 4 | **sprinkle** | past | a ointment |  |  |  |  | with pepper; plentifully *property* | vn weather-57 «It V PP.theme»: with pepper=Theme |
| 5 | **put** | infinitive | the first thing *not said here* |  |  | knave's pocket | then |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in pocket=Destination |

<!-- .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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