---
title: But the most wonderful thing was, that when one held one’s finger in… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the most wonderful thing was, that when one held one’s finger in the steam of the pot, then at once one could smell what dinner was ready in any fire-place in the town. Who acts: wonderful thing, one. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Swineherd, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Swineherd, sentence 42

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the most wonderful thing was, that when one held one’s finger in the steam of the pot, then at once one could smell what dinner was ready in any fire-place in the town.

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**Who acts:** wonderful thing, one · **What happens:** be, smell · **To what, where:** steam, fire place

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Swineherd. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wonderful thing, one), 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:pg640:43:42
# text = But the most wonderful thing was, that when one held one’s finger in the steam of the pot, then at once one could smell what dinner was ready in any fire-place in the town.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
3	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	4	advmod	_	_
4	wonderful	wonderful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:outer	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	nsubj	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	advmod	_	_
10	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	’s	's	PART	POS	_	12	case	_	_
14	finger	finger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	steam	steam	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	27	advmod	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	27	obl	_	_
25	one	one	PRON	PRP	Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	smell	smell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	parataxis	_	_
28	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	31	nsubj	_	_
29	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
31	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	ccomp	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
33	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	36	det	_	_
34	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	town	town	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the wonderful thing |  |  | the steam of the pot |  | hold *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **smell** | could | one |  |  |  | then |  | vn smell\_emission-43.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past |  |  |  | any fire place in the town |  | ready *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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