---
title: By three bells that morning they were all stirring their stumps; for… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: By three bells that morning they were all stirring their stumps; for there was a big sea running; and Tootles, the bo’sun, was among them, with a rope’s end in his hand and chewing tobacco. Who acts: bells, big sea. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME, with its de
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
By three bells that morning they were all stirring their stumps; for there was a big sea running; and Tootles, the bo’sun, was among them, with a rope’s end in his hand and chewing tobacco.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bells, big sea · **What happens:** stir, be, run, chew · **To what, where:** stumps, big sea, tobacco

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bells, big sea), 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:pg16:17:1
# text = By three bells that morning they were all stirring their stumps; for there was a big sea running; and Tootles, the bo’sun, was among them, with a rope’s end in his hand and chewing tobacco.
1	By	by	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	3	nummod	_	_
3	bells	bell	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	det	_	_
5	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl:unmarked	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	all	all	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	stirring	stir	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	acl	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	stumps	stump	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	18	punct	_	_
13	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	15	expl	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	_
19	running	run	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	18	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	Tootles	tootle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	bo’sun	bo'sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	among	among	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	’s	's	PART	POS	_	33	case	_	_
35	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	conj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	chewing	chew	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	38	conj	_	_
41	tobacco	tobacco	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stir** | past · progressive | bells *= bell* | bells's stumps |  |  | morning | all *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus stump=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | a big sea |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **run** | gerund | a big sea *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | among bells *= bell* | tree rules |
| 5 | **chew** | gerund |  | tobacco |  |  |  |  | vn chew-39.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tobacco=Patient |

<!-- .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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- ← previous: [Chapter XV. “HOOK OR ME THIS…, 198](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/16/198/)
- next →: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/17/2/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/17/)