---
title: There was no time to waste, as the dragon might return directly, so… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: There was no time to waste, as the dragon might return directly, so they took two horses out of the stable, and rode away at lightning speed. Who acts: time, dragon, brothers. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nine Pea-hens and the Golden Apples, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Nine Pea-hens and the Golden Apples, sentence 64

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was no time to waste, as the dragon might return directly, so they took two horses out of the stable, and rode away at lightning speed.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** time, dragon, brothers · **What happens:** be, waste, return, take, ride away · **To what, where:** two horses, stable, lightning speed

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Nine Pea-hens and the Golden Apples. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (time, dragon, brothers), 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:pg641:7:64
# text = There was no time to waste, as the dragon might return directly, so they took two horses out of the stable, and rode away at lightning speed.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	waste	waste	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
8	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
13	directly	directly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nummod	_	_
19	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	_
20	out	out	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	stable	stable	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	rode	ride	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
27	away	away	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	lightning	lightning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	speed	speed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | no time |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **waste** | to-infinitive | no time *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **return** | might | the dragon |  |  |  |  | directly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **take** | past | brothers *= brother* | two horses |  | the stable |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent horse=Theme out stable=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **ride away** | past | brothers *= brother* *not said here* |  |  | lightning speed |  | away *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=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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