---
title: He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys ar… — The Velveteen Rabbit · tree and pragmatics
description: He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else. Who acts: Horse, long succession, mainsprings. A sentence of «The Velvete
---

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# The Velveteen Rabbit, Opening, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else.

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**Who acts:** Horse, long succession, mainsprings · **What happens:** be, see, arrive, boast, pass away, know · **To what, where:** toys, anything · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bianco, Opening. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Horse, long succession, mainsprings), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg11757:1:26
# text = He was wise, for he had seen a long succession of mechanical toys arrive to boast and swagger, and by-and-by break their mainsprings and pass away, and he knew that they were only toys, and would never turn into anything else.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	wise	wise	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
5	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	succession	succession	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	mechanical	mechanical	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	toys	toy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
15	arrive	arrive	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	boast	boast	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	swagger	swagger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	by	by	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	break	break	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	mainsprings	mainspring	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	pass	pass	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	parataxis	_	_
32	away	away	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	parataxis	_	_
37	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
38	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
39	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
40	only	only	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
41	toys	toy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
44	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	46	aux	_	_
45	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	46	advmod	_	_
46	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	conj	_	_
47	into	into	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	46	obl	_	_
49	else	else	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Horse |  |  |  |  | wise *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | past · perfect | Horse |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **arrive** | present | a long succession of mechanical toys |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **boast** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | a long succession of mechanical toys *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **pass away** | infinitive | TOYS's mainsprings |  |  |  |  | by break; away *property* | vn die-42.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **know** | past | Horse |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **is a** | past | mainsprings *= mainspring* | toys |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **not** **turn** | would | TOYS's mainsprings *not said here* |  |  | anything |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme into anything=Trajectory |

<!-- .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 Velveteen Rabbit» by Margery Williams Bianco, Project Gutenberg book 11757 (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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