---
title: The little boy ran to shut the door, but Johnny-cake was too quick f… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: The little boy ran to shut the door, but Johnny-cake was too quick for him and rolled through the door, down the steps, and out into the road long before the little boy could catch him. Who acts: little boy, Johnny cake. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Lazy Jack, with its depen
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Lazy Jack, sentence 39

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The little boy ran to shut the door, but Johnny-cake was too quick for him and rolled through the door, down the steps, and out into the road long before the little boy could catch him.

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**Who acts:** little boy, Johnny cake · **What happens:** run, shut, be, roll, catch · **To what, where:** door

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Lazy Jack. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little boy, Johnny cake), 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:pg7439:34:39
# text = The little boy ran to shut the door, but Johnny-cake was too quick for him and rolled through the door, down the steps, and out into the road long before the little boy could catch him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	shut	shut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
11	Johnny	Johnny	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	cake	cake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	too	too	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	rolled	roll	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	conj	_	_
21	through	through	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	down	down	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	out	out	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
31	into	into	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	_
34	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	33	advmod	_	_
35	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
39	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	advcl	_	_
41	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run** | past | the little boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **shut** | to-infinitive | the little boy *not said here* | the door |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent door=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | past | Johnny cake |  |  |  |  | for door; quick *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **roll** | participle | Johnny cake *not said here* |  |  | the door |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme through door=Trajectory |
| 5 | **catch** | could | the little boy | door |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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:** «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7439 (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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