---
title: There could not have been a lovelier sight; but there was none to se… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: There could not have been a lovelier sight; but there was none to see it except a little boy who was staring in at the window. Who acts: lovelier sight, none, little boy. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every cla
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter XVI. THE RETURN HOME, sentence 165

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There could not have been a lovelier sight; but there was none to see it except a little boy who was staring in at the window.

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**Who acts:** lovelier sight, none, little boy · **What happens:** not be, be, see, stare · **To what, where:** sight

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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 (lovelier sight, none, little 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:pg16:17:165
# text = There could not have been a lovelier sight; but there was none to see it except a little boy who was staring in at the window.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	5	expl	_	_
2	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	been	be	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	lovelier	lovely	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	8	amod	_	_
8	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	5	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
11	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	12	expl	_	_
12	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
13	none	none	PRON	NN	PronType=Neg	12	nsubj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	acl	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obj	_	_
17	except	except	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
21	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	staring	stare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	in	in	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
25	at	at	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	window	window	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **can** | could · perfect | a lovelier sight |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **be** | past | none |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | none *not said here* | sight |  |  |  | except a little boy | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 4 | **stare** | past · progressive | a little boy |  |  |  |  | at the window | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at window=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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