---
title: He knocked politely, and now the wood was as still as the children,… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: He knocked politely, and now the wood was as still as the children, not a sound to be heard except from Tinker Bell, who was watching from a branch and openly sneering. Who acts: Peter, wood, sound. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter VI. THE LITTLE HOUSE, with its dependency tree and
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter VI. THE LITTLE HOUSE, sentence 189

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He knocked politely, and now the wood was as still as the children, not a sound to be heard except from Tinker Bell, who was watching from a branch and openly sneering.

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**Who acts:** Peter, wood, sound · **What happens:** knock, be, hear, watch, sneer · **To what, where:** branch

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This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter VI. THE LITTLE HOUSE. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Peter, wood, sound), 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:pg16:7:189
# text = He knocked politely, and now the wood was as still as the children, not a sound to be heard except from Tinker Bell, who was watching from a branch and openly sneering.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	knocked	knock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	politely	politely	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
6	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
10	as	as	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	still	still	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
12	as	as	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	parataxis	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	acl	_	_
22	except	except	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	from	from	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	Tinker	Tinker	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	compound	_	_
25	Bell	Bell	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	parataxis	_	_
30	from	from	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	branch	branch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	openly	openly	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	sneering	sneer	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **knock** | past | Peter |  |  |  |  | politely *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 2 | **is** | past | the wood |  |  |  | now | as the children; still *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **hear** | to-infinitive · passive | Peter *not said here* |  |  |  |  | except Tinker Bell | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus» |
| 4 | **watch** | past · progressive | a sound |  |  | a branch |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **sneer** | gerund | a sound *not said here* |  |  |  |  | openly *property* | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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