---
title: As he did it he avoided glancing at the sleeper, but not lest pity s… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: As he did it he avoided glancing at the sleeper, but not lest pity should unnerve him; merely to avoid spilling. Who acts: Hook, pity. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XIII. DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES?, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter XIII. DO YOU BELIEVE IN FAIRIES?, sentence 71

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As he did it he avoided glancing at the sleeper, but not lest pity should unnerve him; merely to avoid spilling.

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**Who acts:** Hook, pity · **What happens:** do, avoid, glance, unnerve, spill · **To what, where:** hand, Hook

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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 (Hook, pity), 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:pg16:14:71
# text = As he did it he avoided glancing at the sleeper, but not lest pity should unnerve him; merely to avoid spilling.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obj	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	avoided	avoid	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	glancing	glance	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	xcomp	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	sleeper	sleeper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
13	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
14	lest	lest	SCONJ	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	pity	pity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	unnerve	unnerve	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	parataxis	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	merely	merely	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
21	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
22	avoid	avoid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
23	spilling	spill	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **do** | past | Hook | hand |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |
| 2 | **avoid** | past | Hook |  |  |  |  |  | vn avoid-52 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **glance** | gerund | Hook *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at the sleeper | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at sleeper=Theme |
| 4 | **unnerve** | should | pity | Hook |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus he=Experiencer |
| 5 | **avoid** | to-infinitive | pity *not said here* |  |  |  |  | merely *property* | vn avoid-52 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **spill** | gerund | pity *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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