---
title: The pirate attack had been a complete surprise: a sure proof that th… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: The pirate attack had been a complete surprise: a sure proof that the unscrupulous Hook had conducted it improperly, for to surprise redskins fairly is beyond the wit of the white man. Who acts: pirate attack, sure proof. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XII. THE CHILDREN ARE CARRI
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter XII. THE CHILDREN ARE CARRIED OFF, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The pirate attack had been a complete surprise: a sure proof that the unscrupulous Hook had conducted it improperly, for to surprise redskins fairly is beyond the wit of the white man.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** pirate attack, sure proof · **What happens:** be, conduct, surprise · **To what, where:** complete surprise, unscrupulous Hook, redskins

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This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XII. THE CHILDREN ARE CARRIED OFF. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (pirate attack, sure proof), 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:pg16:13:1
# text = The pirate attack had been a complete surprise: a sure proof that the unscrupulous Hook had conducted it improperly, for to surprise redskins fairly is beyond the wit of the white man.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	pirate	pirate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	compound	_	_
3	attack	attack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
5	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	cop	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	complete	complete	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	proof	proof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	unscrupulous	unscrupulous	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	Hook	Hook	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nsubj:pass	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	conducted	conduct	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	acl	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	_
20	improperly	improperly	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	surprise	surprise	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
25	redskins	redskin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
26	fairly	fairly	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
27	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
28	beyond	beyond	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	wit	wit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	parataxis	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past · perfect | the pirate attack | a complete surprise |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **conduct** | past · perfect · passive | a sure proof *not said here* | the unscrupulous Hook |  |  |  | improperly *property* | vn conduct-111.1 «NP V NP PP»: subject=Theme it=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **surprise** | to-infinitive | a sure proof *not said here* | redskins |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus redskin=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | present | a sure proof |  |  |  |  | beyond the wit; of the white man | tree rules |

<!-- .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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