---
title: It took them a long time and a great many hops to reach the top, but… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It took them a long time and a great many hops to reach the top, but there they were at last, and what was the surprise of each to see another frog before him! Who acts: It, frogs. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Two Frogs, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Two Frogs, sentence 5

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It took them a long time and a great many hops to reach the top, but there they were at last, and what was the surprise of each to see another frog before him!

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** It, frogs · **What happens:** take, reach, be, see · **To what, where:** frogs, top, surprise, frog

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Two Frogs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, frogs), 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:pg641:14:5
# text = It took them a long time and a great many hops to reach the top, but there they were at last, and what was the surprise of each to see another frog before him!
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obj	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
9	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
10	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	hops	hop	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	conj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
18	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	22	expl	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
25	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	28	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	28	nmod	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
33	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	34	det	_	_
34	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obj	_	_
35	before	before	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | It | frogs *= frog* |  |  | time |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 2 | **reach** | to-infinitive |  | the top |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent top=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | frogs *= frog* |  |  | there |  | last *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | the surprise |  |  |  | of each | tree rules |
| 5 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | another frog |  |  | before mountain |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer frog=Stimulus |

<!-- .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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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