---
title: In a short time the two elder brothers came home, and their mother a… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In a short time the two elder brothers came home, and their mother asked to see the linen which had been woven out of the skeins of flax she had given them. Who acts: two elder brothers, mother. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Frog, with its dependency tree and the pragmati
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Frog, sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In a short time the two elder brothers came home, and their mother asked to see the linen which had been woven out of the skeins of flax she had given them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** two elder brothers, mother · **What happens:** come, ask, see, weave, give · **To what, where:** linen, skeins, brothers

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Frog. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (two elder brothers, mother), 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:pg641:36:14
# text = In a short time the two elder brothers came home, and their mother asked to see the linen which had been woven out of the skeins of flax she had given them.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	nummod	_	_
7	elder	elder	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
9	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	home	home	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	linen	linen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	woven	weave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	acl:relcl	_	_
24	out	out	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	skeins	skein	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	flax	flax	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
30	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	29	acl:relcl	_	_
33	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the two elder brothers |  |  |  | time | home *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | brothers's mother |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **see** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | brothers's mother *not said here* | the linen |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer linen=Stimulus |
| 4 | **weave** | past · perfect · passive |  | the linen |  | the skeins of flax |  |  | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Product |
| 5 | **give** | past · perfect | mother | brothers *= brother* |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |

<!-- .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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