---
title: When it was ready she could not wait till it was served at the table… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When it was ready she could not wait till it was served at the table, but she immediately took a couple of leaves and put them in her mouth. Who acts: mouth, witch. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 1, sentence 85

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When it was ready she could not wait till it was served at the table, but she immediately took a couple of leaves and put them in her mouth.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mouth, witch · **What happens:** be, not wait, serve, take, put · **To what, where:** mouth, table, couple, leaves

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mouth, witch), 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:pg640:10:85
# text = When it was ready she could not wait till it was served at the table, but she immediately took a couple of leaves and put them in her mouth.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	4	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	advcl	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux:pass	_	_
12	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	advcl	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	couple	couple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | mouth |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **wait** | could | witch |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **serve** | past · passive |  | mouth |  | the table |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute |
| 4 | **take** | past | witch | a couple of leaves |  |  |  | immediately *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent couple=Theme |
| 5 | **put** | infinitive | witch *not said here* | leaves *= leaf* |  | witch's mouth |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme in mouth=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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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