--- title: And the floor creaked, and the ceiling was all made of glass mirrors… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: And the floor creaked, and the ceiling was all made of glass mirrors, so that he saw himself standing on his head, and by each window were standing three reporters and an editor; and each of them was writing down what was said, to publish it in the paper that came out and was sold at the street corn --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/50/143/) [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 Steadfast Tin-soldier](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/50/) / 143 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Steadfast Tin-soldier, sentence 143 And the floor creaked, and the ceiling was all made of glass mirrors, so that he saw himself standing on his head, and by each window were standing three reporters and an editor; and each of them was writing down what was said, to publish it in the paper that came out and was sold at the street corners for a penny. **Who acts:** floor, each, paper · **What happens:** creak, make, see, stand, write down, say · **To what, where:** ceiling, floor, head, three reporters, paper, street corners · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Steadfast Tin-soldier. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (floor, each, paper), 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:pg640:50:143 # text = And the floor creaked, and the ceiling was all made of glass mirrors, so that he saw himself standing on his head, and by each window were standing three reporters and an editor; and each of them was writing down what was said, to publish it in the paper that came out and was sold at the street corners for a penny. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 floor floor NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 4 creaked creak VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 ceiling ceiling NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nsubj:pass _ _ 9 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 aux:pass _ _ 10 all all ADV RB _ 11 advmod _ _ 11 made make VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 parataxis _ _ 12 of of ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 glass glass NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 compound _ _ 14 mirrors mirror NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 16 so so SCONJ IN ExtPos=SCONJ 19 mark _ _ 17 that that SCONJ IN _ 16 fixed _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 19 nsubj _ _ 19 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 11 conj _ _ 20 himself himself PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes 19 obj _ _ 21 standing stand VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 19 xcomp _ _ 22 on on ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 24 nmod:poss _ _ 24 head head NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 26 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 27 by by ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 28 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 29 det _ _ 29 window window NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 obl _ _ 30 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 aux _ _ 31 standing stand VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 advcl _ _ 32 three three NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 33 nummod _ _ 33 reporters reporter NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 obj _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 35 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 editor editor NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 ; ; PUNCT : _ 43 punct _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 39 each each DET DT PronType=Tot 43 nsubj _ _ 40 of of ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nmod _ _ 42 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 aux _ _ 43 writing write VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 advcl _ _ 44 down down ADP RP _ 43 compound:prt _ _ 45 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 47 nsubj:pass _ _ 46 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 47 aux:pass _ _ 47 said say VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 43 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 48 , , PUNCT , _ 50 punct _ _ 49 to to PART TO _ 50 mark _ _ 50 publish publish VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 51 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 50 obj _ _ 52 in in ADP IN _ 54 case _ _ 53 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 54 det _ _ 54 paper paper NOUN NN Number=Sing 50 obl _ _ 55 that that PRON WDT PronType=Rel 56 nsubj _ _ 56 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 54 acl:relcl _ _ 57 out out ADV RB _ 56 advmod _ _ 58 and and CCONJ CC _ 60 cc _ _ 59 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 60 aux:pass _ _ 60 sold sell VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 56 conj _ _ 61 at at ADP IN _ 64 case _ _ 62 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 64 det _ _ 63 street street NOUN NN Number=Sing 64 compound _ _ 64 corners corner NOUN NNS Number=Plur 60 obl _ _ 65 for for ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 66 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 67 det _ _ 67 penny penny NOUN NN Number=Sing 64 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 68 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **creak** | past | the floor | | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **make** | past · passive | | the ceiling | | | | of glass mirrors; all *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: subject=Product | | 3 | **see** | past | floor | floor | | | | | tree rules | | 4 | **stand** | gerund | floor *not said here* | | | floor's head | | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on head=Location | | 5 | **stand** | past · progressive | floor *not said here* | three reporters and a editor | | | | by each window | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent reporter=Theme by window=Destination | | 6 | **write down** | past · progressive | each | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 7 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · passive | | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic | | 8 | **publish** | to-infinitive | | ceiling | | the paper | | | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Result | | 9 | **come out** | past | the paper | | | | | out *property* | vn become-109.1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient | | 10 | **sell** | past · passive | the paper *not said here* | | | the street corners for a penny | | | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: at corner=Asset | 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 142](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/50/142/) - next →: [sentence 144](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/50/144/) - ↑ back to [The Steadfast Tin-soldier](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/50/)