---
title: Petru did what he was told, and scarcely had the reins touched the p… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Petru did what he was told, and scarcely had the reins touched the pillars when something happened--HOW I have no idea--that made Petru stare with surprise. Who acts: Petru, reins, something, I. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 1, with its dependency 
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 1, sentence 89

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Petru did what he was told, and scarcely had the reins touched the pillars when something happened--HOW I have no idea--that made Petru stare with surprise.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Petru, reins, something, I, idea · **What happens:** do, tell, have, touch, happen, make · **To what, where:** Petru, pillars, idea · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Petru, reins, something, I), 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:pg641:19:89
# text = Petru did what he was told, and scarcely had the reins touched the pillars when something happened--HOW I have no idea--that made Petru stare with surprise.
1	Petru	Petru	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	6	obj	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	reins	rein	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
13	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	pillars	pillar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obj	_	_
16	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
17	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	18	nsubj	_	_
18	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	HOW	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
21	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
23	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	24	det	_	_
24	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	27	nsubj	_	_
27	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
28	Petru	Petru	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	stare	stare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | Petru |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past · passive |  | Petru |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient what=Topic |
| 3 | **have** | past | Petru *not said here* |  |  |  |  | scarcely *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **touch** | past | the reins | the pillars |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme pillar=Co-Theme |
| 5 | **happen** | past | something |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **have** | present | I | no idea |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent idea=Patient |
| 7 | **make** | past | no idea |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **stare** | infinitive | Petru |  |  |  |  | with surprise | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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