---
title: Off we skip like the most heartless things in the world, which is wh… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: Off we skip like the most heartless things in the world, which is what children are, but so attractive; and we have an entirely selfish time, and then when we have need of special attention we nobly return for it, confident that we shall be rewarded instead of smacked. Who acts: we, world, children.
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter XI. WENDY’S STORY, sentence 73

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Off we skip like the most heartless things in the world, which is what children are, but so attractive; and we have an entirely selfish time, and then when we have need of special attention we nobly return for it, confident that we shall be rewarded instead of smacked.

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**Who acts:** we, world, children · **What happens:** skip, be, have, return, reward, smack · **To what, where:** heartless things, need, we, special attention

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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 (we, world, children), 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:pg16:12:73
# text = Off we skip like the most heartless things in the world, which is what children are, but so attractive; and we have an entirely selfish time, and then when we have need of special attention we nobly return for it, confident that we shall be rewarded instead of smacked.
1	Off	off	ADP	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	skip	skip	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
6	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	7	advmod	_	_
7	heartless	heartless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	15	nsubj	_	_
14	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	11	conj	_	_
16	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
17	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	attractive	attractive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
26	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
27	entirely	entirely	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
28	selfish	selfish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	compound	_	_
29	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
32	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	35	advmod	_	_
33	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	35	advmod	_	_
34	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	have	have	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
36	need	need	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	special	special	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	attention	attention	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nmod	_	_
40	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
41	nobly	nobly	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	return	return	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	36	acl:relcl	_	_
43	for	for	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
46	confident	confident	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	xcomp	_	_
47	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
48	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
49	shall	shall	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
50	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	aux:pass	_	_
51	rewarded	reward	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	46	advcl	_	_
52	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=ADP	54	case	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	fixed	_	_
54	smacked	smack	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	51	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **skip** | present | we |  |  |  |  | like the heartless things in the world | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | present | the world | the heartless things in the world |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | children |  |  |  |  | attractive *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | present | we |  |  |  | time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **have** | present | we | need of special attention |  |  | then |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent need=Patient |
| 6 | **return** | present | we | need of special attention *not said here* |  |  |  | for attention; confident, nobly *property* | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent need=Theme |
| 7 | **reward** | shall · passive |  | we |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **smack** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn bump-18.4-1 «NP V together»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **need** |  |  | special attention |  |  |  |  | nom need «state transitive»: of=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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