---
title: And as the children ran they heard a sound, and the little sister pu… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And as the children ran they heard a sound, and the little sister put her ear to the ground, and heard the broom sweeping the earth close behind them; so, quick as thought, she threw the comb down on the ground, and in an instant, as the cat had said, a dense forest sprung up, in which the roots and
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch (28), sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And as the children ran they heard a sound, and the little sister put her ear to the ground, and heard the broom sweeping the earth close behind them; so, quick as thought, she threw the comb down on the ground, and in an instant, as the cat had said, a dense forest sprung up, in which the roots and branches were so closely intertwined, that it was impossible to force a way through it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** children, little sister, broom, sister, cat, roots · **What happens:** run, hear, put, sweep, throw down, say · **To what, where:** sound, ear, broom, earth, comb, ground · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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, little sister, broom, sister), 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:pg640:39:71
# text = And as the children ran they heard a sound, and the little sister put her ear to the ground, and heard the broom sweeping the earth close behind them; so, quick as thought, she threw the comb down on the ground, and in an instant, as the cat had said, a dense forest sprung up, in which the roots and branches were so closely intertwined, that it was impossible to force a way through it.
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	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	sister	sister	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
16	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	broom	broom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	sweeping	sweep	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	25	acl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	close	close	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	26	advmod	_	_
30	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	so	so	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
35	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	_
36	as	as	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	comb	comb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	down	down	ADP	RP	_	40	compound:prt	_	_
44	on	on	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
48	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
49	in	in	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
53	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	nsubj	_	_
56	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
57	said	say	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
59	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
60	dense	dense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	61	amod	_	_
61	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	conj	_	_
62	sprung	spring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	61	acl	_	_
63	up	up	ADP	RP	_	62	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
64	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	74	punct	_	_
65	in	in	ADP	IN	_	66	case	_	_
66	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	74	obl	_	_
67	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	68	det	_	_
68	roots	root	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	74	nsubj	_	_
69	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	70	cc	_	_
70	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	68	conj	_	_
71	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	74	cop	_	_
72	so	so	ADV	RB	_	74	advmod	_	_
73	closely	closely	ADV	RB	_	74	advmod	_	_
74	intertwined	intertwined	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	62	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	79	punct	_	_
76	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	79	mark	_	_
77	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	79	expl	_	_
78	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	79	cop	_	_
79	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	74	conj	_	_
80	to	to	PART	TO	_	81	mark	_	_
81	force	force	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	79	csubj	_	_
82	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	83	det	_	_
83	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	81	obj	_	_
84	through	through	ADP	IN	_	85	case	_	_
85	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	81	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
86	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | 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* | a sound |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus |
| 3 | **put** | past | the little sister | sister's ear |  |  |  | to the ground | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent ear=Goal |
| 4 | **hear** | past |  | the broom |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer broom=Stimulus |
| 5 | **sweep** | gerund | the broom *not said here* | the earth |  |  |  | close *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme earth=Trajectory |
| 6 | **throw down** | past | sister | the comb |  | the ground |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent comb=Theme on ground=Destination |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect | the cat |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **spring up** | participle |  | a dense forest *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **is** | past | the roots and branches |  |  |  |  | closely, intertwined *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **is** | past | the roots and branches *not said here* |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 11 | **force** | to-infinitive |  | a way |  | broom |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Recipient |

<!-- .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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