---
title: The shirt-collar was so old that he began to think about marrying; a… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The shirt-collar was so old that he began to think about marrying; and it happened one day that he and a garter came into the wash-tub together. Who acts: shirt collar, he, it. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The shirt-collar was so old that he began to think about marrying; and it happened one day that he and a garter came into the wash-tub together.

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**Who acts:** shirt collar, he, it · **What happens:** be, begin, think, marry, happen, come · **To what, where:** wash tub

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (shirt collar, he, it), 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:pg5615:6:1
# text = The shirt-collar was so old that he began to think about marrying; and it happened one day that he and a garter came into the wash-tub together.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	shirt	shirt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	collar	collar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	about	about	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
14	marrying	marry	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	12	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
19	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	20	nummod	_	_
20	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:unmarked	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	garter	garter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	_
26	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
27	into	into	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
29	wash	wash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	tub	tub	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
32	together	together	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the shirt collar |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **begin** | past | he |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **marry** | gerund | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **happen** | past | it |  |  |  | day |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **come** | past | he |  |  | the wash tub |  | together *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into tub=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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