---
title: But nobody had ever been able to reach the top of the hill, and when… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But nobody had ever been able to reach the top of the hill, and when they saw Fiordelisa standing there, they raised a terrible outcry, declaring that if she set foot upon their glass she would break it to pieces. Who acts: nobody, pilgrims, Fiordelisa, sister. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» b
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Blue Bird, part 3, sentence 86

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But nobody had ever been able to reach the top of the hill, and when they saw Fiordelisa standing there, they raised a terrible outcry, declaring that if she set foot upon their glass she would break it to pieces.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** nobody, pilgrims, Fiordelisa, sister · **What happens:** be, reach, see, stand, raise, declare · **To what, where:** top, Fiordelisa, terrible outcry, foot, glass

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Blue Bird, 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 (nobody, pilgrims, Fiordelisa, sister), 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:pg7277:4:86
# text = But nobody had ever been able to reach the top of the hill, and when they saw Fiordelisa standing there, they raised a terrible outcry, declaring that if she set foot upon their glass she would break it to pieces.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	nobody	nobody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	6	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
4	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	6	advmod	_	_
5	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	cop	_	_
6	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	18	advmod	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
19	Fiordelisa	Fiordelisa	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
20	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	18	xcomp	_	_
21	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	raised	raise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	outcry	outcry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	declaring	declare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
31	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	advcl	_	_
34	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
35	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
38	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
39	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
41	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	_
42	to	to	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past · perfect | nobody |  |  |  | ever | able *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **reach** | to-infinitive | nobody *not said here* | the top of the hill |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent top=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | past | pilgrims *= pilgrim* | Fiordelisa |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **stand** | gerund | Fiordelisa *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **raise** | past | pilgrims *= pilgrim* | a terrible outcry |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent outcry=Theme |
| 6 | **declare** *speech: other* | gerund | pilgrims *= pilgrim* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **set** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | sister | foot |  | pilgrims's glass |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent foot=Theme upon glass=Destination |
| 8 | **break** | would | sister | top |  |  |  | to pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent it=Patient to piece=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 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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