--- title: And as the children ran they heard the sound of the broom sweeping t… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: And as the children ran they heard the sound of the broom sweeping the ground close behind them, so instantly they threw the handkerchief down over their shoulder, and in a moment a deep, broad river flowed behind them. Who acts: children, broom. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/69/) [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 Witch (28)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/) / 69 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch (28), sentence 69 And as the children ran they heard the sound of the broom sweeping the ground close behind them, so instantly they threw the handkerchief down over their shoulder, and in a moment a deep, broad river flowed behind them. **Who acts:** children, broom · **What happens:** run, hear, sweep, throw down, flow · **To what, where:** sound, ground, handkerchief, shoulder, deep broad river 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 (children, broom), 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:pg640:39:69 # text = And as the children ran they heard the sound of the broom sweeping the ground close behind them, so instantly they threw the handkerchief down over their shoulder, and in a moment a deep, broad river flowed behind them. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 2 as as SCONJ IN _ 5 mark _ _ 3 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 4 det _ _ 4 children child NOUN NNS Number=Plur 5 nsubj _ _ 5 ran run VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 advcl _ _ 6 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 sound sound NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ _ 10 of of ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 broom broom NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 nmod _ _ 13 sweeping sweep VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 12 acl _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 ground ground NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ _ 16 close close ADV RB Degree=Pos 13 advmod _ _ 17 behind behind ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 20 so so ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 21 instantly instantly ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 22 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 23 threw throw VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 25 handkerchief handkerchief NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obj _ _ 26 down down ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 27 over over ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 29 nmod:poss _ _ 29 shoulder shoulder NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 31 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 32 in in ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 moment moment NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obl _ _ 35 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 36 deep deep ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 38 broad broad ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 amod _ _ 39 river river NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 appos _ _ 40 flowed flow VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 39 acl _ _ 41 behind behind ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **run** | past | the children | | | | | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **hear** | past | children *= child* | the sound of the broom | | | moment | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus | | 3 | **sweep** | gerund | the broom *not said here* | the ground | | | | close *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme ground=Trajectory | | 4 | **throw down** | past | children *= child* | the handkerchief | | children's shoulder | | down, instantly *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent handkerchief=Theme over shoulder=Destination | | 5 | **flow** | participle | | a deep broad river *not said here* | | | | behind children *= child* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme behind they=Location | 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 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/68/) - next →: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/70/) - ↑ back to [The Witch (28)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/)