---
title: There was at first such a tiny sound that a leaf might have fallen o… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: There was at first such a tiny sound that a leaf might have fallen on it and smothered it, but as it came nearer it was more distinct. Who acts: leaf, verse. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter V. THE ISLAND COME TRUE, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter V. THE ISLAND COME TRUE, sentence 168

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There was at first such a tiny sound that a leaf might have fallen on it and smothered it, but as it came nearer it was more distinct.

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**Who acts:** leaf, verse · **What happens:** be, fall, smother, come · **To what, where:** tiny sound, verse

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This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter V. THE ISLAND COME TRUE. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (leaf, verse), 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:pg16:6:168
# text = There was at first such a tiny sound that a leaf might have fallen on it and smothered it, but as it came nearer it was more distinct.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
4	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	8	advmod	_	_
5	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	8	det:predet	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	tiny	tiny	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
9	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	14	obj	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	leaf	leaf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
12	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux	_	_
14	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	acl:relcl	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	smothered	smother	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
25	nearer	near	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	24	advmod	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	29	advmod	_	_
29	distinct	distinct	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past |  |  |  | such tiny sound; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at sound=Location |
| 2 | **fall** | might · perfect | a leaf | such tiny sound |  | verse |  |  | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient that=Result |
| 3 | **smother** | past | a leaf *not said here* | verse |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme it=Destination |
| 4 | **come** | past | verse |  |  |  |  | near *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | verse |  |  |  |  | distinct *property* | tree rules |

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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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