--- title: It is my task and that of my workmen to prepare under the earth the… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: It is my task and that of my workmen to prepare under the earth the gold and silver, a small portion of which finds its way every year to the upper world, but only just enough to help them carry on their business. Who acts: world, small portion, workmen. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andr --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/25/54/) [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 Underground Workers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/25/) / 54 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Underground Workers, sentence 54 It is my task and that of my workmen to prepare under the earth the gold and silver, a small portion of which finds its way every year to the upper world, but only just enough to help them carry on their business. **Who acts:** world, small portion, workmen · **What happens:** be, prepare, find, help, carry · **To what, where:** task, earth, way, workmen, business 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 (world, small portion, workmen), 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:pg641:25:54 # text = It is my task and that of my workmen to prepare under the earth the gold and silver, a small portion of which finds its way every year to the upper world, but only just enough to help them carry on their business. 1 It it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 4 nmod:poss _ _ 4 task task NOUN NN Number=Sing 0 root _ _ 5 and and CCONJ CC _ 6 cc _ _ 6 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 4 nmod _ _ 7 of of ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 8 my my PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 9 nmod:poss _ _ 9 workmen workman NOUN NNS Number=Plur 6 nmod _ _ 10 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 11 prepare prepare VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 9 acl _ _ 12 under under ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 earth earth NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 gold gold NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 appos _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 18 silver silver NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 20 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 21 small small ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 portion portion NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 conj _ _ 23 of of ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 25 nsubj _ _ 25 finds find VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 22 acl:relcl _ _ 26 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 27 nmod:poss _ _ 27 way way NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obj _ _ 28 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 29 det _ _ 29 year year NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl:unmarked _ _ 30 to to ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 32 upper upper ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 33 amod _ _ 33 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 35 but but CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 36 only only ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 37 just just ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 38 enough enough ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 help help VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 41 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obj _ _ 42 carry carry VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 40 xcomp _ _ 43 on on ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 45 nmod:poss _ _ 45 business business NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is a** | present | world | my task | | | | that *nmod* | tree rules | | 2 | **prepare** | to-infinitive | world *not said here* | | | the earth | | | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **find** | present | a small portion | world's way | | | year | to the upper world | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Topic | | 4 | **help** | to-infinitive | | workmen *= workman* | | | | enough *property* | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent they=Beneficiary clause=Theme | | 5 | **carry** | infinitive | workmen *= workman* *not said here* | | | workmen's business | | | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent | 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 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/25/53/) - next →: [sentence 55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/25/55/) - ↑ back to [The Underground Workers](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/25/)