--- title: And now that he was at the water's edge he stepped into a boat, and… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: And now that he was at the water's edge he stepped into a boat, and not a rat, as he shoved off into deep water, piping shrilly all the while, but followed him, plashing, paddling, and wagging their tails with delight. Who acts: Nor. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More En --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/15/38/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [More English Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/) / [More English Fairy Tales, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/15/) / 38 # More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 1, sentence 38 And now that he was at the water's edge he stepped into a boat, and not a rat, as he shoved off into deep water, piping shrilly all the while, but followed him, plashing, paddling, and wagging their tails with delight. **Who acts:** Nor · **What happens:** be, step, shove off, pipe, follow, plash · **To what, where:** edge, rat, boat, deep water, Nor, tails This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Nor), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg14241:15:38 # text = And now that he was at the water's edge he stepped into a boat, and not a rat, as he shoved off into deep water, piping shrilly all the while, but followed him, plashing, paddling, and wagging their tails with delight. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 2 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 12 advmod _ _ 3 that that SCONJ IN _ 10 mark _ _ 4 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 10 nsubj _ _ 5 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 cop _ _ 6 at at ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 9 's 's PART POS _ 8 case _ _ 10 edge edge NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 advcl _ _ 11 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 12 stepped step VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 13 into into ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 boat boat NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 16 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 18 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 20 advmod _ _ 19 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 rat rat NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 22 as as SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 23 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 24 shoved shove VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 25 off off ADP RP _ 24 compound:prt _ _ 26 into into ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 27 deep deep ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 30 piping pipe VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 24 advcl _ _ 31 shrilly shrilly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 xcomp _ _ 32 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 34 det:predet _ _ 33 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 while while NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 36 but but CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 37 followed follow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 conj _ _ 38 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 40 plashing plash VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 37 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 42 punct _ _ 42 paddling paddle VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 40 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 44 and and CCONJ CC _ 45 cc _ _ 45 wagging wag VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 40 conj _ _ 46 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 47 nmod:poss _ _ 47 tails tail NOUN NNS Number=Plur 45 obj _ _ 48 with with ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 49 delight delight NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | Nor | | | the water's edge | | | tree rules | | 2 | **step** | past | Nor | a rat | | a boat | now | | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into boat=Destination | | 3 | **shove off** | past | Nor | | | deep water | | | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent into water=Trajectory | | 4 | **pipe** | gerund | Nor *not said here* | | | | while | shrilly *property* | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **follow** | past | Nor *not said here* | Nor | | | | | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme | | 6 | **plash** | gerund | Nor *not said here* | | | | | | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **paddle** | gerund | Nor *not said here* | | | | | | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **wag** | gerund | Nor *not said here* | rats's tails | | | | with delight | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient | 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. **Text:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/15/37/) - next →: [sentence 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/15/39/) - ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/15/)