---
title: The words were hardly spoken, and Petru had no time even to unbuckle… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The words were hardly spoken, and Petru had no time even to unbuckle the bridle, when the Welwa herself stood before him; and Petru could not bear to look at her, so horrible was she. Who acts: Petru, Welwa. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 2, with it
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 2, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The words were hardly spoken, and Petru had no time even to unbuckle the bridle, when the Welwa herself stood before him; and Petru could not bear to look at her, so horrible was she.

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**Who acts:** Petru, Welwa · **What happens:** speak, have, unbuckle, stand, not bear, look · **To what, where:** words, bridle, earth · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Petru, Welwa), 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:pg641:20:12
# text = The words were hardly spoken, and Petru had no time even to unbuckle the bridle, when the Welwa herself stood before him; and Petru could not bear to look at her, so horrible was she.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
8	Petru	Petru	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
10	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	11	det	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	even	even	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	unbuckle	unbuckle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	bridle	bridle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	22	mark	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	Welwa	Welwa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	20	appos	_	_
22	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl	_	_
23	before	before	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	30	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	Petru	Petru	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
28	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	bear	bear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	at	at	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	so	so	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	horrible	horrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
39	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past · passive |  | the words |  |  |  | hardly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past | Petru |  |  |  | time |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **unbuckle** | to-infinitive | Petru *not said here* | the bridle |  |  |  |  | vn disassemble-23.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent bridle=Patient |
| 4 | **stand** | past | the Welwa |  |  |  | before Petru |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before he=Location |
| 5 | **not** **bear** | could | Petru |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **look** | to-infinitive | Petru *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at earth | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at she=Theme |
| 7 | **is a** | past |  | earth |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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