---
title: When he handed his mother the comb that his aunt had given him, she… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When he handed his mother the comb that his aunt had given him, she was much amazed and asked him, ‘But how did you manage to get back so quickly?’ Who acts: snail, mother, you. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Hazel-nut Child (29), with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Hazel-nut Child (29), sentence 23

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When he handed his mother the comb that his aunt had given him, she was much amazed and asked him, ‘But how did you manage to get back so quickly?’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** snail, mother, you · **What happens:** hand, give, be, ask, manage, get back · **To what, where:** comb, mother, aunt, snail · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Hazel-nut Child (29). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (snail, mother, you), 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:pg640:40:23
# text = When he handed his mother the comb that his aunt had given him, she was much amazed and asked him, ‘But how did you manage to get back so quickly?’
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	handed	hand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	comb	comb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	aunt	aunt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
17	much	much	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	amazed	amazed	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
23	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	28	advmod	_	_
26	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	manage	manage	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	ccomp	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	xcomp	_	_
31	back	back	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
32	so	so	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	28	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hand** | past | snail | the comb | snail's mother |  |  |  | vn send-11.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent mother=Destination comb=Theme |
| 2 | **give** | past · perfect · passive |  | snail's aunt | snail |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient he=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | mother |  |  |  |  | amazed *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | snail *not said here* |  | snail |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **manage** | past · do-support | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **get back** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | quickly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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