---
title: And the brothers threw him a rope to draw him up the steep bank; but… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And the brothers threw him a rope to draw him up the steep bank; but when he was half-way up they cut the rope, and he fell back into the stream. Who acts: brothers, Halfman, daughters. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Halfman, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Story of Halfman, sentence 57

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the brothers threw him a rope to draw him up the steep bank; but when he was half-way up they cut the rope, and he fell back into the stream.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** brothers, Halfman, daughters · **What happens:** throw, draw up, be, cut, fall back · **To what, where:** rope, Halfman, half way, stream

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Halfman. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brothers, Halfman, daughters), 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:pg641:41:57
# text = And the brothers threw him a rope to draw him up the steep bank; but when he was half-way up they cut the rope, and he fell back into the stream.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	brothers	brother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	draw	draw	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	up	up	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	steep	steep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	22	advmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
20	half	half	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	22	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	_
23	up	up	ADP	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	cut	cut	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	advcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
32	back	back	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
33	into	into	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw** | past | the brothers | a rope | Halfman |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Destination rope=Theme |
| 2 | **draw up** | to-infinitive | the brothers *not said here* | Halfman |  |  |  | the steep bank *obl* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | past | Halfman | half way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **cut** | present | daughters *= daughter* | the rope |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset rope=Product |
| 5 | **fall back** | past | Halfman |  |  |  |  | into the stream *result* | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient into stream=Result |

<!-- .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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