---
title: In fanciful stories people can talk to the birds freely, and I wish… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: In fanciful stories people can talk to the birds freely, and I wish for the moment I could pretend that this were such a story, and say that Peter replied intelligently to the Never bird; but truth is best, and I want to tell you only what really happened. Who acts: people, I, this, Peter. A sentenc
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter IX. THE NEVER BIRD, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In fanciful stories people can talk to the birds freely, and I wish for the moment I could pretend that this were such a story, and say that Peter replied intelligently to the Never bird; but truth is best, and I want to tell you only what really happened.

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**Who acts:** people, I, this, Peter, truth · **What happens:** talk, wish, pretend, be, say, reply · **To what, where:** fanciful stories, story, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter IX. THE NEVER BIRD. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, I, this, Peter), 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:pg16:10:12
# text = In fanciful stories people can talk to the birds freely, and I wish for the moment I could pretend that this were such a story, and say that Peter replied intelligently to the Never bird; but truth is best, and I want to tell you only what really happened.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	fanciful	fanciful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
4	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obl	_	_
10	freely	freely	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	wish	wish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
18	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	pretend	pretend	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
21	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
22	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
24	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	26	det:predet	_	_
25	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	say	say	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
31	Peter	Peter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
32	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	ccomp	_	_
33	intelligently	intelligently	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
34	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
36	Never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	37	advmod	_	_
37	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	42	punct	_	_
39	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
40	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
41	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
42	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	46	cc	_	_
45	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	46	nsubj	_	_
46	want	want	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
47	to	to	PART	TO	_	48	mark	_	_
48	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	46	xcomp	_	_
49	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	48	iobj	_	_
50	only	only	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	53	nsubj	_	_
52	really	really	ADV	RB	_	53	advmod	_	_
53	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	48	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **talk** | can | people |  |  | fanciful stories |  | to the birds; freely *property* | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to bird=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **wish** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 3 | **pretend** | could | I |  |  |  | moment |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | past | this | such story |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **reply** *speech: assert* | past | Peter |  |  |  |  | intelligently *property* | vn respond-113 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** | present | truth |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **want** | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 9 | **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent you=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 10 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «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:** «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Project Gutenberg book 16 (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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