---
title: When he reached the tree he put out his hand to pick a golden apple;… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When he reached the tree he put out his hand to pick a golden apple; but all of a sudden the tree grew higher, so that he could not reach its fruit. Who acts: sun, all. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Death of the Sun-hero (27), with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Death of the Sun-hero (27), sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When he reached the tree he put out his hand to pick a golden apple; but all of a sudden the tree grew higher, so that he could not reach its fruit.

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**Who acts:** sun, all · **What happens:** reach, put out, pick, grow, not reach · **To what, where:** tree, hand, golden apple, fruit

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Death of the Sun-hero (27). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sun, all), 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:pg640:38:15
# text = When he reached the tree he put out his hand to pick a golden apple; but all of a sudden the tree grew higher, so that he could not reach its fruit.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	3	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
8	out	out	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	pick	pick	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	advcl	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	apple	apple	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
18	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	24	nsubj	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
21	sudden	sudden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod	_	_
24	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
25	higher	high	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	32	mark	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	fixed	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
31	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
32	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	advcl	_	_
33	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	24	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past | sun | the tree |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent tree=Theme |
| 2 | **put out** | past | sun | sun's hand |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent hand=Goal |
| 3 | **pick** | to-infinitive | sun *not said here* | a golden apple |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent apple=Patient |
| 4 | **grow** | past | all |  |  |  |  | high *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **reach** | could | sun | apple's fruit |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent fruit=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.

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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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