---
title: He did this because there is a saying in the Neverland that, every t… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: He did this because there is a saying in the Neverland that, every time you breathe, a grown-up dies; and Peter was killing them off vindictively as fast as possible. Who acts: dread, saying, you, Peter. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XI. WENDY’S STORY, with its dependency tree a
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter XI. WENDY’S STORY, sentence 100

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He did this because there is a saying in the Neverland that, every time you breathe, a grown-up dies; and Peter was killing them off vindictively as fast as possible.

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**Who acts:** dread, saying, you, Peter · **What happens:** do, be, breathe, grow up, die, kill off · **To what, where:** this, time, breaths

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This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XI. WENDY’S STORY. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (dread, saying, you, Peter), 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:pg16:12:100
# text = He did this because there is a saying in the Neverland that, every time you breathe, a grown-up dies; and Peter was killing them off vindictively as fast as possible.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	obj	_	_
4	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	saying	saying	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	Neverland	Neverland	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
12	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
15	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	appos	_	_
16	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	breathe	breathe	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
20	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	up	up	ADP	RP	_	20	compound:prt	_	_
23	dies	die	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	Peter	Peter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	killing	kill	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	off	off	ADP	RP	_	28	compound:prt	_	_
31	vindictively	vindictively	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
32	as	as	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	28	advmod	_	_
34	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
35	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | dread | this |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent this=Eventuality |
| 2 | **be** | present | a saying |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **breathe** | present | you | every time *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent time=Theme |
| 4 | **grow up** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **die** | present |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 6 | **kill off** | past · progressive | Peter | breaths *= breath* |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn murder-42.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |

<!-- .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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