---
title: If she managed to get across it, they must throw the comb behind the… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If she managed to get across it, they must throw the comb behind them and run for their lives, for where the comb fell a dense forest would start up, which would delay the witch so long that they would be able to get safely away. Who acts: river, handkerchief, comb, dense forest. A sentence of «The 
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch (28), sentence 47

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If she managed to get across it, they must throw the comb behind them and run for their lives, for where the comb fell a dense forest would start up, which would delay the witch so long that they would be able to get safely away.

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**Who acts:** river, handkerchief, comb, dense forest · **What happens:** manage, get, throw, run, fall, start up · **To what, where:** ground, comb, witch

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch (28). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (river, handkerchief, comb, dense forest), 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:pg640:39:47
# text = If she managed to get across it, they must throw the comb behind them and run for their lives, for where the comb fell a dense forest would start up, which would delay the witch so long that they would be able to get safely away.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	managed	manage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	across	across	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	throw	throw	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	comb	comb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
14	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	26	advmod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	comb	comb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
26	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	dense	dense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	start	start	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	ccomp	_	_
32	up	up	ADP	RP	_	31	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	36	nsubj	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	delay	delay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	conj	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	so	so	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
40	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	36	advmod	_	_
41	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
42	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
43	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
44	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	cop	_	_
45	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	advcl	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	xcomp	_	_
48	safely	safely	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
49	away	away	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **manage** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | river |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **get** | to-infinitive | river *not said here* |  |  | ground |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme across it=Destination |
| 3 | **throw** | must | handkerchief | the comb |  |  |  | behind wrens *= wren* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent comb=Theme behind they=Destination |
| 4 | **run** | infinitive | handkerchief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for handkerchief's lives | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for life=Beneficiary |
| 5 | **fall** | past | the comb |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 6 | **start up** | would | a dense forest |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 7 | **delay** | would |  | the witch |  |  |  | long *property* | vn delay-53.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent witch=Source |
| 8 | **is** | would | handkerchief |  |  |  |  | able *property* | tree rules |
| 9 | **get away** | to-infinitive | handkerchief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away, safely *property* | vn withdraw-82-2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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