---
title: First of all, though, they had to get a ladder of fourteen steps, to… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: First of all, though, they had to get a ladder of fourteen steps, to enable them to get on to the Eagle’s back, and there they piled up the meat as well as they could. Who acts: men. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Blue Mountains, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Blue Mountains, sentence 143

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
First of all, though, they had to get a ladder of fourteen steps, to enable them to get on to the Eagle’s back, and there they piled up the meat as well as they could.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** men · **What happens:** have, get, enable, get on, pile up · **To what, where:** ladder, men, meat

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Blue Mountains. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men), 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:pg640:45:143
# text = First of all, though, they had to get a ladder of fourteen steps, to enable them to get on to the Eagle’s back, and there they piled up the meat as well as they could.
1	First	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	advmod	_	_
2	of	of	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
5	though	though	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	ladder	ladder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	fourteen	fourteen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	enable	enable	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	conj	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
22	on	on	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	Eagle	Eagle	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	’s	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	advcl	_	_
27	back	back	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	32	expl	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	piled	pile	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
33	up	up	ADP	RP	_	32	compound:prt	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	meat	meat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
36	as	as	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	32	advmod	_	_
38	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
39	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | first, though *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **get** | to-infinitive | men *= man* *not said here* | a ladder of fourteen steps |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer ladder=Stimulus |
| 3 | **enable** | to-infinitive | men *= man* *not said here* | men *= man* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **get on** | to-infinitive | men *= man* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **pile up** | past | men *= man* | the meat |  | there |  | well *property* | vn spray-9.7-1-1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent meat=Theme |

<!-- .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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