--- title: The Soldier was already standing on the top of the ladder; but when… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The Soldier was already standing on the top of the ladder; but when they wanted to put the rope round his neck, he said that the fulfilment of one innocent request was always granted to a poor criminal before he underwent his punishment. Who acts: Soldier, judges. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Boo --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/46/135/) [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 Tinder-box](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/46/) / 135 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Tinder-box, sentence 135 The Soldier was already standing on the top of the ladder; but when they wanted to put the rope round his neck, he said that the fulfilment of one innocent request was always granted to a poor criminal before he underwent his punishment. **Who acts:** Soldier, judges · **What happens:** stand, want, put, say, grant, undergo · **To what, where:** top, rope, fulfilment, poor criminal, punishment, one innocent request · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Tinder-box. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Soldier, judges), 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:pg640:46:135 # text = The Soldier was already standing on the top of the ladder; but when they wanted to put the rope round his neck, he said that the fulfilment of one innocent request was always granted to a poor criminal before he underwent his punishment. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 Soldier Soldier PROPN NNP Number=Sing 5 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 aux _ _ 4 already already ADV RB _ 5 advmod _ _ 5 standing stand VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 6 on on ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ _ 9 of of ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 ladder ladder NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ; ; PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 13 but but CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ _ 14 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 16 advmod _ _ 15 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 nsubj _ _ 16 wanted want VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 advcl _ _ 17 to to PART TO _ 18 mark _ _ 18 put put VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 xcomp _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 rope rope NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ _ 21 round round ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 23 nmod:poss _ _ 23 neck neck NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 26 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 conj _ _ 27 that that SCONJ IN _ 36 mark _ _ 28 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 29 fulfilment fulfilment NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 nsubj:pass _ _ 30 of of ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 31 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 33 nummod _ _ 32 innocent innocent ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 request request NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nmod _ _ 34 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 aux:pass _ _ 35 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 36 advmod _ _ 36 granted grant VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 26 ccomp _ _ 37 to to ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 poor poor ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 criminal criminal NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obl _ _ 41 before before SCONJ IN _ 43 mark _ _ 42 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 43 underwent undergo VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 advcl _ _ 44 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 45 nmod:poss _ _ 45 punishment punishment NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 5 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **stand** | past · progressive | the Soldier | | | the top of the ladder | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on top=Location | | 2 | **want** | past | judges *= judge* | | | | | | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme | | 3 | **put** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | judges *= judge* *not said here* | the rope | | | | round soldier's neck | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent rope=Goal | | 4 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | soldier | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 5 | **grant** | past · passive | | the fulfilment of one innocent request | | | | to a poor criminal *goal*; always *property* | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Theme to criminal=Goal | | 6 | **undergo** | past | soldier | soldier's punishment | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **fulfil** | | | one innocent request | | | | | nom fulfilment «feeling transitive»: of=patient | | 8 | **punish** | | soldier | | | | | | nom punishment «act transitive»: poss=agent | 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 134](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/46/134/) - next →: [sentence 136](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/46/136/) - ↑ back to [The Tinder-box](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/46/)