---
title: There was a fixed rule that they must never hit back at meals, but s… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: There was a fixed rule that they must never hit back at meals, but should refer the matter of dispute to Wendy by raising the right arm politely and saying, “I complain of so-and-so;” but what usually happened was that they forgot to do this or did it too much. Who acts: fixed rule, Tootles, I, disp
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter X. THE HAPPY HOME, sentence 22

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There was a fixed rule that they must never hit back at meals, but should refer the matter of dispute to Wendy by raising the right arm politely and saying, “I complain of so-and-so;” but what usually happened was that they forgot to do this or did it too much.

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**Who acts:** fixed rule, Tootles, I, dispute · **What happens:** be, fix, not hit back, refer, raise, say · **To what, where:** fixed rule, meals, matter, Wendy, right arm, this · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter X. THE HAPPY HOME. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fixed rule, Tootles, I, dispute), 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:pg16:11:22
# text = There was a fixed rule that they must never hit back at meals, but should refer the matter of dispute to Wendy by raising the right arm politely and saying, “I complain of so-and-so;” but what usually happened was that they forgot to do this or did it too much.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	fixed	fix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	amod	_	_
5	rule	rule	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	hit	hit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
11	back	back	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	meals	meal	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
16	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	refer	refer	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	dispute	dispute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
23	Wendy	Wendy	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
24	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
25	raising	raise	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	arm	arm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
29	politely	politely	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	complain	complain	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	31	ccomp	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	so	so	ADV	RB	_	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	so	so	ADV	RB	_	37	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
44	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
45	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	47	nsubj	_	_
46	usually	usually	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	cop	_	_
49	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
50	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
51	forgot	forget	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	conj	_	_
52	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
53	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	xcomp	_	_
54	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	53	obj	_	_
55	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	51	conj	_	_
57	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	obj	_	_
58	too	too	ADV	RB	_	59	advmod	_	_
59	much	much	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a fixed rule |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **fix** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **hit back** | must | Tootles *= tootle* | a fixed rule *not said here* |  | meals |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent rule=Theme at meal=Destination |
| 4 | **refer** | should |  | the matter of dispute | Wendy |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent matter=Theme to wendy=Recipient |
| 5 | **raise** | gerund |  | the right arm |  |  |  | politely *property* | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent arm=Theme |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **complain** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn complain-37.8 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  |  | usually *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **is** | past | Tootles *= tootle* |  |  |  |  | forget *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **not** **do** | to-infinitive | Tootles *= tootle* *not said here* | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Eventuality |
| 11 | **do** | past | Tootles *= tootle* *not said here* | arm |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 12 | **matter** |  | dispute |  |  |  |  |  | nom matter «cognition intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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