---
title: He found the box with the tinder in it; but just as he was kindling… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He found the box with the tinder in it; but just as he was kindling a light, and had struck a spark out of the tinder-box, the door burst open, and the dog with eyes as large as saucers, which he had seen down in the tree, stood before him and said: Who acts: soldier, door. A sentence of «The Yellow
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Tinder-box, sentence 85

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He found the box with the tinder in it; but just as he was kindling a light, and had struck a spark out of the tinder-box, the door burst open, and the dog with eyes as large as saucers, which he had seen down in the tree, stood before him and said:

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**Who acts:** soldier, door · **What happens:** find, kindle, strike, burst, see down, stand · **To what, where:** box, light, spark, tinder box, saucers, tree · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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, door), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg640:46:85
# text = He found the box with the tinder in it; but just as he was kindling a light, and had struck a spark out of the tinder-box, the door burst open, and the dog with eyes as large as saucers, which he had seen down in the tree, stood before him and said:
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	with	with	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	tinder	tinder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
12	just	just	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	kindling	kindle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	spark	spark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
28	tinder	tinder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	28	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	box	box	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	burst	burst	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	acl:relcl	_	_
35	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
38	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
40	with	with	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	nmod	_	_
42	as	as	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	conj	_	_
44	as	as	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	saucers	saucer	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
47	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	50	nsubj:pass	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
49	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
50	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	45	acl	_	_
51	down	down	ADP	RP	_	50	compound:prt	_	_
52	in	in	ADP	IN	_	54	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
56	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
57	before	before	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
58	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	obl	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
60	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	60	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | soldier | the box |  |  |  | with the tinder in tinder | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent box=Topic |
| 2 | **kindle** | past · progressive | soldier | a light |  |  |  |  | vn engender-27.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Precondition light=Patient |
| 3 | **strike** | past · perfect | soldier *not said here* | a spark |  | the tinder box |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent spark=Patient |
| 4 | **burst** | past | the door | the tinder box *not said here* |  |  |  | open *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location box=Theme |
| 5 | **see down** | past · perfect · passive |  | saucers |  | the tree |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 6 | **stand** | past | soldier *not said here* |  |  |  | before soldier |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before he=Location |
| 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | soldier *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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