---
title: But the strange thing was that no sooner had the servant set forth t… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the strange thing was that no sooner had the servant set forth to perform his task than he disappeared, as if the earth had swallowed him up. Who acts: strange thing, thing, servant. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Headless Dwarfs, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Headless Dwarfs, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the strange thing was that no sooner had the servant set forth to perform his task than he disappeared, as if the earth had swallowed him up.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** strange thing, thing, servant · **What happens:** be, set, perform, disappear, swallow up, task · **To what, where:** task, earth

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Headless Dwarfs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (strange thing, thing, servant), 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:pg641:33:3
# text = But the strange thing was that no sooner had the servant set forth to perform his task than he disappeared, as if the earth had swallowed him up.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	8	det	_	_
8	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	9	advmod	_	_
9	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	acl:relcl	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	perform	perform	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	17	nmod:poss	_	_
17	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	disappeared	disappear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	swallowed	swallow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	conj	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	up	up	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the strange thing *not said here* |  |  |  |  | have, soon *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **set** | past | the strange thing |  |  |  |  | forth *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **perform** | to-infinitive | the strange thing *not said here* | servant's task |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent task=Theme |
| 4 | **disappear** | past | thing |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **swallow up** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect · passive |  | the earth |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **task** |  | servant |  |  |  |  |  | nom task «act 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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