---
title: It was a lesson in propriety to see her escorting the children to sc… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: It was a lesson in propriety to see her escorting the children to school, walking sedately by their side when they were well behaved, and butting them back into line if they strayed. Who acts: talk, Nana, children. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter I. PETER BREAKS THROUGH, with its 
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter I. PETER BREAKS THROUGH, sentence 40

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was a lesson in propriety to see her escorting the children to school, walking sedately by their side when they were well behaved, and butting them back into line if they strayed.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** talk, Nana, children · **What happens:** be, see, escort, walk, behave, butt back · **To what, where:** lesson, propriety, Nana, children, school, line

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter I. PETER BREAKS THROUGH. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (talk, Nana, children), 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:pg16:2:40
# text = It was a lesson in propriety to see her escorting the children to school, walking sedately by their side when they were well behaved, and butting them back into line if they strayed.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	lesson	lesson	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	propriety	propriety	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	acl	_	_
9	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	_
10	escorting	escort	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	8	xcomp	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obj	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	school	school	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
16	walking	walk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
17	sedately	sedately	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
21	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
24	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	25	advmod	_	_
25	behaved	behave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
28	butting	butt	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	conj	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	_
30	back	back	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
31	into	into	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	line	line	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
33	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	strayed	stray	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | talk | a lesson |  | propriety |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | Nana |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **escort** | gerund | Nana *not said here* | the children |  | school |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent child=Theme to school=Destination |
| 4 | **walk** | gerund | Nana *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by children's side; sedately *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by side=Trajectory |
| 5 | **behave** | past · passive |  | children *= child* |  |  |  | well *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **butt back** | gerund | Nana *not said here* | children *= child* |  |  |  | into line *result* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent they=Patient into line=Result |
| 7 | **stray** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=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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