---
title: Of course this was a pity; but whatever Mr. Darling did he had to do… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: Of course this was a pity; but whatever Mr. Darling did he had to do in excess, otherwise he soon gave up doing it. Who acts: this, Darling, Nana. 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 52

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Of course this was a pity; but whatever Mr. Darling did he had to do in excess, otherwise he soon gave up doing it.

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**Who acts:** this, Darling, Nana · **What happens:** be, do, have, give up · **To what, where:** whatever, excess

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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 (this, Darling, Nana), 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:pg16:17:52
# text = Of course this was a pity; but whatever Mr. Darling did he had to do in excess, otherwise he soon gave up doing it.
1	Of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
2	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	fixed	_	_
3	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	pity	pity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	12	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
9	whatever	whatever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	12	obj	_	_
10	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nmod:desc	_	_
11	Darling	Darling	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	excess	excess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	otherwise	otherwise	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	23	advmod	_	_
23	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
24	up	up	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	_
25	doing	do	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	23	xcomp	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | this |  |  |  |  | of a pity | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | past | Darling  Mr. | whatever |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past | Nana |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **do** | to-infinitive | Nana *not said here* |  |  | excess |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **give up** | past | Nana |  |  |  |  | otherwise, soon *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **do** | gerund | Nana *not said here* | excess |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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