---
title: They were his dogs snapping at him, but, tragic figure though he had… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: They were his dogs snapping at him, but, tragic figure though he had become, he scarcely heeded them. Who acts: men, dogs, codfish. 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 162

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They were his dogs snapping at him, but, tragic figure though he had become, he scarcely heeded them.

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**Who acts:** men, dogs, codfish · **What happens:** be, snap, become, heed · **To what, where:** dogs, tragic figure, men

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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 (men, dogs, codfish), 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:pg16:9:162
# text = They were his dogs snapping at him, but, tragic figure though he had become, he scarcely heeded them.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
4	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	snapping	snap	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	tragic	tragic	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	figure	figure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	parataxis	_	_
13	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
19	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	heeded	heed	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
21	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | men *= man* | codfish's dogs |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **snap** | gerund | codfish's dogs *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at codfish | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at he=Location |
| 3 | **become** | past · perfect | codfish | tragic figure *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Patient figure=Result |
| 4 | **heed** | past | codfish | men *= man* |  |  |  | scarcely *property* | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=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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