---
title: Directly they sat down, a dozen little servants appeared to wait on… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Directly they sat down, a dozen little servants appeared to wait on them, which they did so cleverly and so quickly that Hans could hardly believe they had no wings. Who acts: dishes, dozen, Hans. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Underground Workers, with its dependency tree
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Underground Workers, sentence 64

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Directly they sat down, a dozen little servants appeared to wait on them, which they did so cleverly and so quickly that Hans could hardly believe they had no wings.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** dishes, dozen, Hans · **What happens:** sit down, appear, wait, do, believe, have · **To what, where:** wings · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (dishes, dozen, Hans), 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:pg641:25:64
# text = Directly they sat down, a dozen little servants appeared to wait on them, which they did so cleverly and so quickly that Hans could hardly believe they had no wings.
1	Directly	directly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	dozen	dozen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nsubj	_	_
8	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	wait	wait	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	obj	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	cleverly	cleverly	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	so	so	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
25	Hans	Hans	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
26	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	advcl	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	ccomp	_	_
31	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	32	det	_	_
32	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit down** | past | dishes *= dish* |  |  |  |  | directly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **appear** | past | a dozen |  |  |  |  | quickly *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 3 | **wait** | to-infinitive | a dozen *not said here* |  |  |  |  | on dishes *= dish* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on they=Location |
| 4 | **do** | past | dishes *= dish* |  |  |  |  | cleverly *property* | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Eventuality |
| 5 | **believe** | could | Hans |  |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **have** | past | dishes *= dish* | no wings |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wing=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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