---
title: The only thing that was different was the snow, which had lain thick… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The only thing that was different was the snow, which had lain thick upon the hills and trees when he started, but grew less and less the farther he went south, till it disappeared altogether. Who acts: only thing, thing, snow. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, In the Land of Sou
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/28/15/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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/) / [In the Land of Souls (21)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/28/) / 15

# The Yellow Fairy Book, In the Land of Souls (21), sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The only thing that was different was the snow, which had lain thick upon the hills and trees when he started, but grew less and less the farther he went south, till it disappeared altogether.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** only thing, thing, snow · **What happens:** be, lie, start, grow, go, disappear · **To what, where:** snow

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, In the Land of Souls (21). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (only thing, thing, snow), 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:pg640:28:15
# text = The only thing that was different was the snow, which had lain thick upon the hills and trees when he started, but grew less and less the farther he went south, till it disappeared altogether.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
6	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	acl:relcl	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	lain	lie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	_
15	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	hills	hill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	_
20	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
26	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	25	advmod	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	26	conj	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	farther	far	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	32	advmod	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
33	south	south	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	disappeared	disappear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
38	altogether	altogether	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the only thing |  |  |  |  | different *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the only thing | the snow |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **lie** | past · perfect · passive |  | the snow |  |  |  | upon the hills and trees; thick *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **start** | past | thing |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **grow** | past | thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | less *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **go** | past | thing |  |  |  |  | far, south *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **disappear** | past | snow |  |  |  |  | altogether *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/28/14/)
- next →: [sentence 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/28/16/)
- ↑ back to [In the Land of Souls (21)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/28/)