---
title: Tootles hated the idea of signing under such a man, but an instinct… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: Tootles hated the idea of signing under such a man, but an instinct told him that it would be prudent to lay the responsibility on an absent person; and though a somewhat silly boy, he knew that mothers alone are always willing to be the buffer. Who acts: Tootles, idea, instinct, somewhat silly boy.
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter XIV. THE PIRATE SHIP, sentence 74

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Tootles hated the idea of signing under such a man, but an instinct told him that it would be prudent to lay the responsibility on an absent person; and though a somewhat silly boy, he knew that mothers alone are always willing to be the buffer.

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**Who acts:** Tootles, idea, instinct, somewhat silly boy, mothers · **What happens:** hate, sign, tell, be, lay, know · **To what, where:** idea, anon, responsibility, buffer · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XIV. THE PIRATE SHIP. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Tootles, idea, instinct, somewhat silly boy), 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:pg16:15:74
# text = Tootles hated the idea of signing under such a man, but an instinct told him that it would be prudent to lay the responsibility on an absent person; and though a somewhat silly boy, he knew that mothers alone are always willing to be the buffer.
1	Tootles	tootle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nsubj	_	_
2	hated	hate	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	idea	idea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
6	signing	sign	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
7	under	under	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	10	det:predet	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	instinct	instinct	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	iobj	_	_
17	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
18	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	cop	_	_
21	prudent	prudent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	xcomp	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	lay	lay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	responsibility	responsibility	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	absent	absent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
32	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
34	somewhat	somewhat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	compound	_	_
35	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
40	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
41	mothers	mother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nsubj	_	_
42	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	_
43	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
44	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	45	advmod	_	_
45	willing	willing	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	ccomp	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	49	mark	_	_
47	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	cop	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	buffer	buffer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hate** | past | Tootles | the idea |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer idea=Stimulus |
| 2 | **sign** | gerund | the idea *not said here* |  |  |  |  | under such man | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | a instinct |  | anon |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent he=Recipient |
| 4 | **is** *not said to happen* | would | instinct |  |  |  |  | prudent *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **lay** | to-infinitive | instinct *not said here* | the responsibility |  |  |  | on a absent person | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent responsibility=Theme on person=Destination |
| 6 | **know** | past | a somewhat silly boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **is** | present | mothers |  |  |  |  | always, willing *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **is a** | to-infinitive | mothers *not said here* | the buffer |  |  |  |  | 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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