---
title: But the moment the children tried to join in they had to play by the… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: But the moment the children tried to join in they had to play by themselves, for the mermaids immediately disappeared. Who acts: moment, children, mermaids. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter VIII. THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Peter Pan, Chapter VIII. THE MERMAIDS’ LAGOON, sentence 14

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But the moment the children tried to join in they had to play by themselves, for the mermaids immediately disappeared.

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**Who acts:** moment, children, mermaids · **What happens:** try, join, have, play, disappear

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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 (moment, children, mermaids), 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:pg16:9:14
# text = But the moment the children tried to join in they had to play by themselves, for the mermaids immediately disappeared.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
6	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	join	join	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	ccomp	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	play	play	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	mermaids	mermaid	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
20	immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	disappeared	disappear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | the moment and the children |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **join** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the moment and the children *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **play** | to-infinitive | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by children *= child* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **disappear** | past | the mermaids |  |  |  |  | immediately *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

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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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