--- title: He speedily lopped off the branch, and though he noticed a splendid… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: He speedily lopped off the branch, and though he noticed a splendid golden cage hanging close by, which would have been very useful for the bird to travel in, he left it alone, and came back to the fountain, holding his breath and walking on tip-toe all the way, for fear lest he should awake his pri --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/12/17/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Donkey Cabbage, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/12/) / 17 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Donkey Cabbage, part 3, sentence 17 He speedily lopped off the branch, and though he noticed a splendid golden cage hanging close by, which would have been very useful for the bird to travel in, he left it alone, and came back to the fountain, holding his breath and walking on tip-toe all the way, for fear lest he should awake his prize. **Who acts:** Prince, splendid golden cage · **What happens:** lop off, notice, hang, be, travel, leave · **To what, where:** branch, splendid golden cage, cage, fountain, breath, way This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Donkey Cabbage, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Prince, splendid golden cage), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg640:12:17 # text = He speedily lopped off the branch, and though he noticed a splendid golden cage hanging close by, which would have been very useful for the bird to travel in, he left it alone, and came back to the fountain, holding his breath and walking on tip-toe all the way, for fear lest he should awake his prize. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 speedily speedily ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 3 lopped lop VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 off off ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 6 branch branch NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 8 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 9 though though SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 noticed notice VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 13 splendid splendid ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 14 golden golden ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 cage cage NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 16 hanging hang VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 15 acl _ _ 17 close close ADV RB Degree=Pos 16 advmod _ _ 18 by by ADP IN _ 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 20 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 25 nsubj _ _ 21 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 22 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 25 aux _ _ 23 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 25 cop _ _ 24 very very ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ _ 25 useful useful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 conj _ _ 26 for for ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 28 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 30 mark _ _ 30 travel travel VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 28 acl _ _ 31 in in ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 33 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 left leave VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 35 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 obj _ _ 36 alone alone ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 39 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 40 back back ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 41 to to ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 fountain fountain NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 45 holding hold VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 39 advcl _ _ 46 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 47 nmod:poss _ _ 47 breath breath NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obj _ _ 48 and and CCONJ CC _ 49 cc _ _ 49 walking walk VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 45 conj _ _ 50 on on ADP IN _ 53 case _ _ 51 tip tip NOUN NN Number=Sing 53 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 52 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 51 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 53 toe toe NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 obl _ _ 54 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 56 det:predet _ _ 55 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 56 det _ _ 56 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 49 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 57 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 58 for for ADP IN _ 59 case _ _ 59 fear fear NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 parataxis _ _ 60 lest lest SCONJ IN _ 63 mark _ _ 61 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 63 nsubj _ _ 62 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 63 aux _ _ 63 awake awake VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 59 acl _ _ 64 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 65 nmod:poss _ _ 65 prize prize NOUN NN Number=Sing 63 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 66 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **lop off** | past | Prince | the branch | | | | speedily *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent branch=Theme | | 2 | **notice** | past | Prince | a splendid golden cage | | | | | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer cage=Stimulus | | 3 | **hang** | gerund | a splendid golden cage *not said here* | | | | | close *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **is** | would · perfect | a splendid golden cage | | | | | for the bird; useful *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **travel** | to-infinitive | a splendid golden cage *not said here* | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **leave** | past | Prince | cage | | | | alone *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 7 | **come back** | past | Prince *not said here* | | | the fountain | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to fountain=Initial\_Location | | 8 | **hold** | gerund | Prince *not said here* | Prince's breath | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent breath=Theme | | 9 | **walk** | gerund | Prince *not said here* | all way | | tip toe | | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on toe=Trajectory | | 10 | **awake** | should | Prince | Prince's prize | | | | | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location prize=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/12/16/) - next →: [sentence 18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/12/18/) - ↑ back to [The Donkey Cabbage, part 3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/12/)