---
title: It was only in Peter’s absence that they could speak of mothers, the… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: It was only in Peter’s absence that they could speak of mothers, the subject being forbidden by him as silly. Who acts: favourite, mothers, Peter. 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 76

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It was only in Peter’s absence that they could speak of mothers, the subject being forbidden by him as silly.

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**Who acts:** favourite, mothers, Peter · **What happens:** be, speak, forbid · **To what, where:** absence, subject · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (favourite, mothers, Peter), 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:pg16:6:76
# text = It was only in Peter’s absence that they could speak of mothers, the subject being forbidden by him as silly.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	Peter	Peter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	7	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	’s	's	PART	POS	_	5	case	_	_
7	absence	absence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
9	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	acl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	mothers	mother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	appos	_	_
17	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	aux:pass	_	_
18	forbidden	forbid	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
19	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obl	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	silly	silly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | favourite |  |  | Peter's absence |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | could | mothers *= mother* | Peter's absence *not said here* |  |  |  | of mothers | tree rules |
| 3 | **forbid** | gerund · passive | Peter | the subject *not said here* |  |  |  | as silly | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Causer |

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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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