---
title: He would come down laughing over something fearfully funny he had be… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: He would come down laughing over something fearfully funny he had been saying to a star, but he had already forgotten what it was, or he would come up with mermaid scales still sticking to him, and yet not be able to say for certain what had been happening. Who acts: Peter. A sentence of «Peter Pan»
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter IV. THE FLIGHT, sentence 44

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He would come down laughing over something fearfully funny he had been saying to a star, but he had already forgotten what it was, or he would come up with mermaid scales still sticking to him, and yet not be able to say for certain what had been happening.

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**Who acts:** Peter · **What happens:** come down, laugh, say, forget, come up, stick · **To what, where:** something, Peter · **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 (Peter), 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:pg16:5:44
# text = He would come down laughing over something fearfully funny he had been saying to a star, but he had already forgotten what it was, or he would come up with mermaid scales still sticking to him, and yet not be able to say for certain what had been happening.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	down	down	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	laughing	laugh	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	3	xcomp	_	_
6	over	over	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	5	obl	_	_
8	fearfully	fearfully	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	funny	funny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	aux	_	_
13	saying	say	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	acl	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	already	already	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	forgotten	forget	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	ccomp	_	_
23	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	22	obj	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
31	up	up	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	mermaid	mermaid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	scales	scale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
35	still	still	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	sticking	stick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	advcl	_	_
37	to	to	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
41	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
42	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	44	advmod	_	_
43	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	cop	_	_
44	able	able	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	advcl	_	_
45	to	to	PART	TO	_	46	mark	_	_
46	say	say	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	44	xcomp	_	_
47	for	for	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	obl	_	_
49	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	52	nsubj	_	_
50	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	52	aux	_	_
51	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	52	aux	_	_
52	happening	happen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	46	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come down** | would | Peter |  |  |  |  | down *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **laugh** | gerund | Peter *not said here* |  |  | something |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past · perfect · progressive | Peter |  |  |  |  | to a star | vn indicate-78-1 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Pivot to star=Experiencer clause=Topic |
| 4 | **forget** | past · perfect | Peter |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **come up** | would | Peter |  |  |  |  | with mermaid scales | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **stick** | gerund | Peter *not said here* |  | Peter |  | still |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **not** **is** | infinitive | Peter *not said here* |  |  |  | yet | able *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **say** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | Peter *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for certain | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 9 | **happen** | past · perfect · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «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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