---
title: The servants came to the door, and finding it locked, they knocked;… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The servants came to the door, and finding it locked, they knocked; but the frozen breath on the window replied in Prince Milan’s voice, ‘I am coming directly.’ Who acts: servants, door, I. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 3, with its dependency tree and the p
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Biter Bit, part 3, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The servants came to the door, and finding it locked, they knocked; but the frozen breath on the window replied in Prince Milan’s voice, ‘I am coming directly.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** servants, door, I · **What happens:** come, find, lock, knock, freeze, reply · **To what, where:** door, frozen breath, voice

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Biter Bit, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (servants, door, I), 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:pg7277:28:24
# text = The servants came to the door, and finding it locked, they knocked; but the frozen breath on the window replied in Prince Milan’s voice, ‘I am coming directly.’
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	finding	find	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	locked	lock	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	knocked	knock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	frozen	freeze	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	amod	_	_
19	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj:pass	_	_
20	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
23	replied	reply	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
25	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	Milan	Milan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	’s	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
30	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	33	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	conj	_	_
34	directly	directly	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | the servants |  |  | the door |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to door=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **find** | gerund | the servants *not said here* | door |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent it=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 3 | **lock** | participle | door *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn tape-22.4 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **knock** | past | servants *= servant* |  |  |  |  |  | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **freeze** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4-1 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **reply** *speech: assert* | participle · passive |  | the frozen breath on the window |  | Prince Milan's voice |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V NP.topic»: subject=Topic |
| 7 | **come** | present · progressive | I |  |  |  |  | directly *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=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 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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