---
title: But whenever the bottom gave a little creak he was in terror lest th… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But whenever the bottom gave a little creak he was in terror lest the trunk should go to pieces, for then he would have turned a dreadful somersault-just think of it! Who acts: bottom, trunk. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 4, with its dependency tree an
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 4, sentence 79

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But whenever the bottom gave a little creak he was in terror lest the trunk should go to pieces, for then he would have turned a dreadful somersault-just think of it!

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bottom, trunk · **What happens:** give, be, go, turn, think · **To what, where:** little creak, terror, dreadful somersault

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (bottom, trunk), 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:pg5615:4:79
# text = But whenever the bottom gave a little creak he was in terror lest the trunk should go to pieces, for then he would have turned a dreadful somersault-just think of it!
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	whenever	whenever	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	5	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	creak	creak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	terror	terror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
13	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	26	obl	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	aux	_	_
26	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	dreadful	dreadful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	somersault	somersault	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	just	just	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past | the bottom | a little creak |  |  |  | whenever *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent creak=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | bottom |  |  | terror |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **go** | should | the trunk | terror *not said here* |  |  |  | to pieces | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location terror=Theme |
| 4 | **turn** | would · perfect | bottom | a dreadful somersault |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent somersault=Theme |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* | infinitive | the bottom *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of Trunk | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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