---
title: They pretended they were taking the cloth from the loom, cut with hu… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They pretended they were taking the cloth from the loom, cut with huge scissors in the air, sewed with needles without thread, and then said at last, ‘Now the clothes are finished!’ Who acts: people. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of the Emperor’s New Clothes(4). (4) And
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, Story of the Emperor’s New Clothes(4). (4) Andersen, sentence 66

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They pretended they were taking the cloth from the loom, cut with huge scissors in the air, sewed with needles without thread, and then said at last, ‘Now the clothes are finished!’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** people · **What happens:** pretend, take, cut, sew, say, finish · **To what, where:** cloth, loom, last, clothes · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of the Emperor’s New Clothes(4). (4) Andersen. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people), 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:pg640:6:66
# text = They pretended they were taking the cloth from the loom, cut with huge scissors in the air, sewed with needles without thread, and then said at last, ‘Now the clothes are finished!’
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	pretended	pretend	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	ccomp	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	cloth	cloth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	loom	loom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	advcl	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	scissors	scissors	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	sewed	sew	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	needles	needle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	_
23	without	without	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	thread	thread	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	28	advmod	_	_
28	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
29	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
32	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	37	advmod	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
36	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux:pass	_	_
37	finished	finish	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pretend** | past | people |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | past · progressive | people | the cloth |  | the loom |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent cloth=Theme from loom=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **cut** | infinitive | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with huge scissors in the air | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP PP»: agent=Agent with scissors=Instrument |
| 4 | **sew** | past | people *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with needles; without thread | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent with needle=Co-Patient |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | people *not said here* |  |  | last | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **finish** | present · passive |  | the clothes |  |  | now |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: subject=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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