---
title: If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one, you may see at times a sh… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one, you may see at times a shapeless pool of lovely pale colours suspended in the darkness; then if you squeeze your eyes tighter, the pool begins to take shape, and the colours become so vivid that with another squeeze they must go on fire. Who acts: you, pool
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/9/1/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Peter Pan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/) / [Chapter VIII. THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/9/) / 1

# Peter Pan, Chapter VIII. THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON, sentence 1

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one, you may see at times a shapeless pool of lovely pale colours suspended in the darkness; then if you squeeze your eyes tighter, the pool begins to take shape, and the colours become so vivid that with another squeeze they must go on fire.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** you, pool, colours · **What happens:** shut, be, see, suspend, squeeze, begin · **To what, where:** eyes, lucky one, lovely pale colours, darkness, shape, fire

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter VIII. THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (you, pool, colours), 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:pg16:9:1
# text = If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one, you may see at times a shapeless pool of lovely pale colours suspended in the darkness; then if you squeeze your eyes tighter, the pool begins to take shape, and the colours become so vivid that with another squeeze they must go on fire.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	shut	shut	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
4	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obj	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
7	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	lucky	lucky	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
12	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
13	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	shapeless	shapeless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	pool	pool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	lovely	lovely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
22	pale	pale	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	colours	colour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	_
24	suspended	suspend	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	acl	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	39	punct	_	_
29	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	39	advmod	_	_
30	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
31	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	squeeze	squeeze	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	advcl	_	_
33	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
35	tighter	tight	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	32	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	pool	pool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
39	begins	begin	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	14	parataxis	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	39	xcomp	_	_
42	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
44	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	colours	colour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
47	become	become	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	conj	_	_
48	so	so	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
49	vivid	vivid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	xcomp	_	_
50	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
51	with	with	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	53	det	_	_
53	squeeze	squeeze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	_
54	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
55	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
56	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	advcl	_	_
57	on	on	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
58	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shut** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | your eyes |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent eye=Patient |
| 2 | **is a** | present | you *not said here* | a lucky one |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | may | you |  |  |  | time |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **suspend** | participle |  | lovely pale colours *not said here* |  | the darkness |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in darkness=Location |
| 5 | **squeeze** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | you | your eyes |  |  |  | tight *property* | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent eye=Theme |
| 6 | **begin** | present | the pool |  |  |  | then |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **take** | to-infinitive | the pool *not said here* | shape |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent shape=Theme |
| 8 | **become** | present | the colours |  |  |  |  | vivid *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 9 | **go** | must | colours *= colour* |  |  | fire |  | with another squeeze | vn help-72.1-2 «NP V PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent with squeeze=Beneficiary |

<!-- .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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [Chapter VII. THE HOME UNDER…, 89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/8/89/)
- next →: [sentence 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/9/2/)
- ↑ back to [Chapter VIII. THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/9/)