---
title: They were tied to prevent their flying away, doubled up with their k… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: They were tied to prevent their flying away, doubled up with their knees close to their ears; and for the trussing of them the black pirate had cut a rope into nine equal pieces. Who acts: others. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XIII. DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES?, with its dependenc
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter XIII. DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES?, sentence 11

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They were tied to prevent their flying away, doubled up with their knees close to their ears; and for the trussing of them the black pirate had cut a rope into nine equal pieces.

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**Who acts:** others · **What happens:** tie, prevent, fly away, double up, cut · **To what, where:** others, black pirate, nine equal pieces

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This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XIII. DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES?. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (others), 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:pg16:14:11
# text = They were tied to prevent their flying away, doubled up with their knees close to their ears; and for the trussing of them the black pirate had cut a rope into nine equal pieces.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux:pass	_	_
3	tied	tie	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	prevent	prevent	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
6	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	xcomp	_	_
8	away	away	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	doubled	double	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	advcl	_	_
11	up	up	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	_
15	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	trussing	trussing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nmod	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	pirate	pirate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	into	into	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	nine	nine	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	36	nummod	_	_
35	equal	equal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tie** | past · passive |  | others *= other* |  |  |  |  | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **prevent** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Causer clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **fly away** | gerund | others *= other* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **double up** | participle | others *= other* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with others's knees | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent with knee=Instrument |
| 5 | **cut** | past · perfect · passive |  | the black pirate |  | nine equal pieces |  | for the trussing of others | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP NP PP.asset»: subject=Beneficiary rope=Product for trussing=Asset |

<!-- .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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