---
title: The snow was falling so fast that he could not see three steps in fr… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The snow was falling so fast that he could not see three steps in front of him, till the stranger waved his staff, when the drifts parted before them. Who acts: snow, stranger. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Underground Workers, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Underground Workers, sentence 11

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The snow was falling so fast that he could not see three steps in front of him, till the stranger waved his staff, when the drifts parted before them.

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**Who acts:** snow, stranger · **What happens:** fall, not see, wave, part · **To what, where:** three steps, front, staff, drifts

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Underground Workers. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (snow, stranger), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg641:25:11
# text = The snow was falling so fast that he could not see three steps in front of him, till the stranger waved his staff, when the drifts parted before them.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
10	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
11	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
12	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	waved	wave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	29	advmod	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	drifts	drift	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	parted	part	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	acl:relcl	_	_
30	before	before	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | past · progressive | the snow |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **see** | could | snow | three steps |  | front of sleeper |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer step=Stimulus |
| 3 | **wave** | past | the stranger | stranger's staff |  |  |  |  | vn wink-40.3.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent staff=Patient |
| 4 | **part** | participle · passive |  | the drifts |  |  | before steps *= step* |  | vn separate-23.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=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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