---
title: But it could not come up over the step in front of the altar, and th… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But it could not come up over the step in front of the altar, and there it continued to howl, and scream, and threaten, until the clock struck one, when it had to go into the chest again, and Christian heard the lid slam above it. Who acts: standing, clock, Christian. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy B
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 7, sentence 60

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But it could not come up over the step in front of the altar, and there it continued to howl, and scream, and threaten, until the clock struck one, when it had to go into the chest again, and Christian heard the lid slam above it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** standing, clock, Christian · **What happens:** not come up, continue, howl, scream, threaten, strike · **To what, where:** one, chest, lid slam, standing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (standing, clock, Christian), 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:pg5615:7:60
# text = But it could not come up over the step in front of the altar, and there it continued to howl, and scream, and threaten, until the clock struck one, when it had to go into the chest again, and Christian heard the lid slam above it.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	up	up	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	over	over	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	altar	altar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
17	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	19	expl	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	continued	continue	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	howl	howl	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	scream	scream	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	threaten	threaten	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	clock	clock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
32	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
33	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	37	advmod	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	parataxis	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	xcomp	_	_
40	into	into	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	chest	chest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
43	again	again	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
46	Christian	Christian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	47	nsubj	_	_
47	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	lid	lid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	compound	_	_
50	slam	slam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
51	above	above	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **come up** | could | standing |  |  |  |  | over the step in front of the altar | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme over step=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **continue** | past | standing |  |  | there |  |  | vn continue-55.3 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **howl** | to-infinitive | standing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **scream** *speech: express* | infinitive | standing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **threaten** | infinitive | standing *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **strike** | past | the clock | one |  |  |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Patient |
| 7 | **have** | past | standing |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **go** | to-infinitive | standing *not said here* |  |  | the chest | again |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into chest=Initial\_Location |
| 9 | **hear** | past | Christian | the lid slam |  | standing |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer slam=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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