--- title: But it was not long before this story also came to the ears of their… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But it was not long before this story also came to the ears of their envious neighbour, and he lost no time in going to the old people and asking if they happened to have a mortar which they could lend him. Who acts: heart, story, people, mortar. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/18/33/) [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 Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [The Envious Neighbour](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/18/) / 33 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Envious Neighbour, sentence 33 But it was not long before this story also came to the ears of their envious neighbour, and he lost no time in going to the old people and asking if they happened to have a mortar which they could lend him. **Who acts:** heart, story, people, mortar · **What happens:** not be, come, lose, go, ask, happen · **To what, where:** ears, mortar, story This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Envious Neighbour. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (heart, story, people, mortar), 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:pg641:18:33 # text = But it was not long before this story also came to the ears of their envious neighbour, and he lost no time in going to the old people and asking if they happened to have a mortar which they could lend him. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 5 cc _ _ 2 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 4 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 5 advmod _ _ 5 long long ADV RB Degree=Pos 10 advmod _ _ 6 before before ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 this this DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 8 det _ _ 8 story story NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ _ 9 also also ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ _ 10 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 to to ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 ears ear NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obl _ _ 14 of of ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 15 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 17 nmod:poss _ _ 16 envious envious ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ _ 17 neighbour neighbour NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 20 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 21 lost lose VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 conj _ _ 22 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 23 det _ _ 23 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obj _ _ 24 in in SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 25 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 21 advcl _ _ 26 to to ADP IN _ 29 case _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 28 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 people people NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 obl _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 31 asking ask VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 25 conj _ _ 32 if if SCONJ IN _ 34 mark _ _ 33 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 happened happen VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 ccomp _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 have have VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 xcomp _ _ 37 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 mortar mortar NOUN NN Number=Sing 36 obj _ _ 39 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 42 nsubj _ _ 40 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 nsubj _ _ 41 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 42 aux _ _ 42 lend lend VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 acl:relcl _ _ 43 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **not** **is** | past | heart | | | | | long *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **come** | past | | | | the ears of ears's envious neighbour | before this story | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to ear=Initial\_Location | | 3 | **lose** | past | story | | | | time | | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **go** | gerund | story *not said here* | | | | | to the old people | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to people=Initial\_Location | | 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | gerund | story *not said here* | | | | | | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **happen** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | people | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **have** | to-infinitive | people *not said here* | a mortar | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mortar=Patient | | 8 | **lend** | could | a mortar | story | | | | | vn give-13.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 32](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/18/32/) - next →: [sentence 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/18/34/) - ↑ back to [The Envious Neighbour](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/18/)