---
title: “John,” he said, looking around him doubtfully, “I think I have been… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: “John,” he said, looking around him doubtfully, “I think I have been here before.” Who acts: John, I. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME, sentence 125

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“John,” he said, looking around him doubtfully, “I think I have been here before.”

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**Who acts:** John, I · **What happens:** say, look, think, be · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (John, I), 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:pg16:17:125
# text = “John,” he said, looking around him doubtfully, “I think I have been here before.”
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
8	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
9	around	around	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	doubtfully	doubtfully	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	think	think	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
16	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	cop	_	_
19	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	ccomp	_	_
20	before	before	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | John |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **look** | gerund | John *not said here* |  |  |  |  | around John; doubtfully *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* *in a quote* | present | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** *in a quote* | present · perfect | I |  |  |  |  | before, here *property* | tree rules |

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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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