---
title: They seemed to be the scullions, for they clambered up the walls and… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They seemed to be the scullions, for they clambered up the walls and brought down pots and pans, eggs, flour, butter, and herbs, which they carried to the stove. Who acts: pigs. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 1, with its dependency tree and
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 1, sentence 65

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They seemed to be the scullions, for they clambered up the walls and brought down pots and pans, eggs, flour, butter, and herbs, which they carried to the stove.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** pigs · **What happens:** seem, be, clamber up, bring down, carry · **To what, where:** herbs, scullions, walls, pots, stove

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (pigs), 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:pg641:26:65
# text = They seemed to be the scullions, for they clambered up the walls and brought down pots and pans, eggs, flour, butter, and herbs, which they carried to the stove.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	cop	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	scullions	scullion	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	clambered	clamber	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
11	up	up	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	walls	wall	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
16	down	down	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	pots	pot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	pans	pan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	eggs	egg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
23	flour	flour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	butter	butter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	herbs	herb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
30	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	32	obj	_	_
31	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	acl:relcl	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	stove	stove	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | pigs *= pig* | herbs |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | to-infinitive | pigs *= pig* *not said here* | the scullions |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **clamber up** | past | pigs *= pig* | the walls |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location wall=Theme |
| 4 | **bring down** | past | pigs *= pig* *not said here* | pots and pans and eggs and flour and butter |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent pot=Theme |
| 5 | **carry** | past | pigs *= pig* | herbs |  | the stove |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent which=Theme to stove=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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