---
title: Immediately a lot of guinea pigs came running down the stairs, but J… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Immediately a lot of guinea pigs came running down the stairs, but Jem thought it rather odd that they all walked on their hind legs, wore nutshells for shoes, and men’s clothes, whilst even their hats were put on in the newest fashion. Who acts: lot, Jem, stairs. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Boo
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 1, sentence 50

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Immediately a lot of guinea pigs came running down the stairs, but Jem thought it rather odd that they all walked on their hind legs, wore nutshells for shoes, and men’s clothes, whilst even their hats were put on in the newest fashion.

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**Who acts:** lot, Jem, stairs · **What happens:** come, run down, think, walk, wear, put on · **To what, where:** clothes, stairs, lot, hind legs, nutshells, hats

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lot, Jem, stairs), 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:pg641:26:50
# text = Immediately a lot of guinea pigs came running down the stairs, but Jem thought it rather odd that they all walked on their hind legs, wore nutshells for shoes, and men’s clothes, whilst even their hats were put on in the newest fashion.
1	Immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	lot	lot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	guinea	guinea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	pigs	pig	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nmod	_	_
7	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	running	run	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	stairs	stair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	Jem	Jem	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	odd	odd	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	xcomp	_	_
19	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
20	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
21	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	20	det	_	_
22	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
25	hind	hind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	wore	wear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
29	nutshells	nutshell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
30	for	for	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	shoes	shoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
34	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	’s	's	PART	POS	_	34	case	_	_
36	clothes	clothes	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
38	whilst	whilst	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
39	even	even	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
40	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	hats	hat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux:pass	_	_
43	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	_
44	on	on	ADP	RP	_	43	compound:prt	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
47	newest	new	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	48	amod	_	_
48	fashion	fashion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | a lot of guinea pigs | men's clothes |  |  |  | immediately *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **run down** | gerund | a lot of guinea pigs *not said here* | the stairs |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme stair=Trajectory |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Jem | lot |  |  |  | odd *property* | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot it=Theme |
| 4 | **walk** | past | stairs *= stair* |  |  | stairs's hind legs |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on leg=Trajectory |
| 5 | **wear** | past |  | nutshells |  |  |  | for shoes | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1-1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent nutshell=Source |
| 6 | **put on** | past · passive |  | stairs's hats |  | the newest fashion |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme in fashion=Destination |

<!-- .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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