---
title: Even then they had time to gather in a phalanx that would have been… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: Even then they had time to gather in a phalanx that would have been hard to break had they risen quickly, but this they were forbidden to do by the traditions of their race. Who acts: masters. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XII. THE CHILDREN ARE CARRIED OFF, with its dependency t
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter XII. THE CHILDREN ARE CARRIED OFF, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Even then they had time to gather in a phalanx that would have been hard to break had they risen quickly, but this they were forbidden to do by the traditions of their race.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** masters · **What happens:** have, gather, be, break, rise, forbid · **To what, where:** phalanx, this

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (masters), 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:pg16:13:25
# text = Even then they had time to gather in a phalanx that would have been hard to break had they risen quickly, but this they were forbidden to do by the traditions of their race.
1	Even	even	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	gather	gather	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	acl	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	phalanx	phalanx	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
11	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	obj	_	_
12	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
13	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux	_	_
14	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	15	cop	_	_
15	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	20	advmod	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	risen	rise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	10	acl:relcl	_	_
21	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Sub|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	forbidden	forbid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	by	by	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	traditions	tradition	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	race	race	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** | past | masters *= master* |  |  | a phalanx | then; time |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **gather** | to-infinitive | masters *= master* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | would · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **break** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **rise** | past · perfect | masters *= master* | a phalanx |  |  |  | quickly *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location that=Theme |
| 6 | **forbid** | past · passive |  | this |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **do** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | by the traditions of masters's race | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **race** |  | masters *= master* |  |  |  |  |  | nom race «event intransitive»: poss=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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