---
title: But no sooner had she perceived the motley crowd fastened to the swa… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But no sooner had she perceived the motley crowd fastened to the swan’s tail than she burst into a loud fit of laughter, in which she was joined by all her servants and ladies in waiting. Who acts: fair, servants. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Magic Swan, with its dependen
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Magic Swan, sentence 54

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But no sooner had she perceived the motley crowd fastened to the swan’s tail than she burst into a loud fit of laughter, in which she was joined by all her servants and ladies in waiting.

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**Who acts:** fair, servants · **What happens:** perceive, fasten, burst, join · **To what, where:** motley crowd, loud fit, fair

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Magic Swan. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fair, servants), 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:pg7277:23:54
# text = But no sooner had she perceived the motley crowd fastened to the swan’s tail than she burst into a loud fit of laughter, in which she was joined by all her servants and ladies in waiting.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	3	det	_	_
3	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	6	advmod	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	perceived	perceive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	motley	motley	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	crowd	crowd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	fastened	fasten	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	swan	swan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	’s	's	PART	POS	_	13	case	_	_
15	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	burst	burst	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
19	into	into	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	loud	loud	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	fit	fit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	laughter	laughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	30	obl	_	_
28	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	joined	join	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	conj	_	_
31	by	by	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	34	det:predet	_	_
33	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	ladies	lady	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	conj	_	_
37	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	waiting	waiting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perceive** | past | fair | the motley crowd |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer crowd=Stimulus |
| 2 | **fasten** | participle |  | the motley crowd *not said here* |  |  |  | to the swan's tail | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle PP»: agent=Patient to tail=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **burst** | past | fair |  |  | a loud fit of laughter |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **join** | past · passive | fair's servants in waiting and ladies | fair |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |

<!-- .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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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