---
title: To be sure there was a bridge, but, even if it had not been guarded… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: To be sure there was a bridge, but, even if it had not been guarded by sleeping lions, it was plainly not meant for man to walk on. Who acts: bridge, sleeping lions. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3, sentence 100

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To be sure there was a bridge, but, even if it had not been guarded by sleeping lions, it was plainly not meant for man to walk on.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bridge, sleeping lions · **What happens:** be, not guard, sleep, not mean, walk on · **To what, where:** bridge

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bridge, sleeping lions), 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:pg641:21:100
# text = To be sure there was a bridge, but, even if it had not been guarded by sleeping lions, it was plainly not meant for man to walk on.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	3	mark	_	_
2	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	cop	_	_
3	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
4	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	5	expl	_	_
5	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	bridge	bridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	even	even	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
12	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	17	advmod	_	_
16	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	guarded	guard	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	sleeping	sleep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	amod	_	_
20	lions	lion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	_
24	plainly	plainly	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
25	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
26	meant	mean	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	walk	walk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
31	on	on	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | past | a bridge |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **guard** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive | sleeping lions | bridge |  |  |  |  | vn defend-72.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Beneficiary |
| 4 | **sleep** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn snooze-40.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **mean** | past · passive |  | bridge |  |  |  | for man; plainly *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **walk on** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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