---
title: As his father spoke, things grew clearer to Jem’s mind, and he saw n… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: As his father spoke, things grew clearer to Jem’s mind, and he saw now that he had not been dreaming, but had really served the old woman seven years in the shape of a squirrel. Who acts: father, things, Jem. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As his father spoke, things grew clearer to Jem’s mind, and he saw now that he had not been dreaming, but had really served the old woman seven years in the shape of a squirrel.

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**Who acts:** father, things, Jem · **What happens:** speak, grow, see, not dream, serve, mind · **To what, where:** old woman, shape · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The History of Dwarf Long Nose, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, things, Jem), 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:pg641:27:26
# text = As his father spoke, things grew clearer to Jem’s mind, and he saw now that he had not been dreaming, but had really served the old woman seven years in the shape of a squirrel.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	clearer	clear	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	xcomp	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	Jem	Jem	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
17	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
22	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	aux	_	_
23	dreaming	dream	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
27	really	really	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	served	serve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	conj	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
32	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	33	nummod	_	_
33	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl:unmarked	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	squirrel	squirrel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | fairy's father |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **grow** | past | things |  |  |  |  | clear *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | past | father |  |  |  | now |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **dream** | past · perfect · progressive | father |  |  |  |  |  | vn cognize-85 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **serve** | past · perfect | things *not said here* | the old woman |  | the shape of a squirrel | year |  | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent woman=Value in shape=Location |
| 6 | **mind** |  | Jem |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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