---
title: It was the stillest silence they had ever known, broken once by a di… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: It was the stillest silence they had ever known, broken once by a distant lapping, which Peter explained was the wild beasts drinking at the ford, and again by a rasping sound that might have been the branches of trees rubbing together, but he said it was the redskins sharpening their knives. Who ac
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter IV. THE FLIGHT, sentence 183

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It was the stillest silence they had ever known, broken once by a distant lapping, which Peter explained was the wild beasts drinking at the ford, and again by a rasping sound that might have been the branches of trees rubbing together, but he said it was the redskins sharpening their knives.

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**Who acts:** light, stillest silence, distant lapping, wild beasts, rasping sound, Peter · **What happens:** be, know, break, explain, drink, rasp · **To what, where:** stillest silence, John, wild beasts, ford, redskins, knives · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter IV. THE FLIGHT. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (light, stillest silence, distant lapping, wild beasts), 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:pg16:5:183
# text = It was the stillest silence they had ever known, broken once by a distant lapping, which Peter explained was the wild beasts drinking at the ford, and again by a rasping sound that might have been the branches of trees rubbing together, but he said it was the redskins sharpening their knives.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	stillest	still	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	5	amod	_	_
5	silence	silence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	9	advmod	_	_
9	known	know	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
12	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	11	advmod	_	_
13	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	distant	distant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	lapping	lapping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
18	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj	_	_
19	Peter	Peter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
20	explained	explain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
25	drinking	drink	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	acl	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	ford	ford	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
31	again	again	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
32	by	by	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	rasping	rasp	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	35	amod	_	_
35	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
36	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	44	nsubj	_	_
37	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
38	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	aux	_	_
39	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	44	aux	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	branches	branch	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nsubj	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	nmod	_	_
44	rubbing	rub	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	acl:relcl	_	_
45	together	together	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
49	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
50	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	nsubj	_	_
51	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	53	cop	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	redskins	redskin	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	ccomp	_	_
54	sharpening	sharpen	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	53	acl	_	_
55	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	knives	knife	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | light | the stillest silence and a rasping sound |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **know** | past · perfect · passive | the stillest silence and a rasping sound *not said here* | John |  |  | ever |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **break** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | by a distant lapping; once *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme by lapping=Location |
| 4 | **explain** *speech: assert* | past | a distant lapping |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is a** | past |  | the wild beasts |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **drink** | gerund | the wild beasts *not said here* |  |  | the ford |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **rasp** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **rub** | might · perfect · progressive | a rasping sound |  |  |  |  | together *property* | vn spray-9.7-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Peter |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 10 | **is a** | past | light | the redskins |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **sharpen** | gerund | the redskins *not said here* | John's knives |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent knife=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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