---
title: And instantly two pretty lads sprang out of the sack, brought in oak… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And instantly two pretty lads sprang out of the sack, brought in oak tables, on which they laid silken covers, and spread all sorts of delicious dishes and refreshing drinks on them. Who acts: two pretty lads, lads. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Two in a Sack, with its depend
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, Two in a Sack, sentence 42

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And instantly two pretty lads sprang out of the sack, brought in oak tables, on which they laid silken covers, and spread all sorts of delicious dishes and refreshing drinks on them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** two pretty lads, lads · **What happens:** spring out, bring, lay, spread, refresh, sort · **To what, where:** sack, oak tables, silken covers, sorts, drinks, delicious dishes

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Two in a Sack. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two pretty lads, lads), 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:pg641:17:42
# text = And instantly two pretty lads sprang out of the sack, brought in oak tables, on which they laid silken covers, and spread all sorts of delicious dishes and refreshing drinks on them.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
4	pretty	pretty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	lads	lad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	out	out	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sack	sack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
12	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	oak	oak	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	tables	table	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	obl	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
21	silken	silken	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	covers	cover	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	spread	spread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
26	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
27	sorts	sort	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	delicious	delicious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	dishes	dish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nmod	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	refreshing	refresh	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	conj	_	_
33	drinks	drink	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spring out** | past | two pretty lads | the sack |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location sack=Theme |
| 2 | **bring** | participle |  | the sack *not said here* |  | oak tables |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **lay** | past | lads *= lad* | silken covers |  | oak tables |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent cover=Theme on which=Destination |
| 4 | **spread** | past | two pretty lads *not said here* | all sorts of delicious dishes |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location sort=Theme |
| 5 | **refresh** | gerund | two pretty lads *not said here* | drinks |  |  |  | on lads *= lad* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus drink=Experiencer |
| 6 | **sort** |  |  | delicious dishes |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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