---
title: While that smile was on his face no one dared address him; all they… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics
description: While that smile was on his face no one dared address him; all they could do was to stand ready to obey. Who acts: one, others, all. 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 44

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While that smile was on his face no one dared address him; all they could do was to stand ready to obey.

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**Who acts:** one, others, all · **What happens:** be, dare, address, do, obey · **To what, where:** face, smile

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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 (one, others, all), 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:pg16:9:44
# text = While that smile was on his face no one dared address him; all they could do was to stand ready to obey.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	det	_	_
3	smile	smile	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	advcl	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	9	det	_	_
9	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	dared	dare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	address	address	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
14	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	20	nsubj:outer	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	acl:relcl	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	parataxis	_	_
21	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	xcomp	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	obey	obey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	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 |  |  |  | smile's face |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **dare** | past | no one | smile's face *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent face=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **address** | infinitive | no one *not said here* |  | smile |  |  |  | vn illustrate-25.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Destination |
| 4 | **do** | could | others *= other* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is** | past | all |  |  |  |  | ready, stand *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **obey** | to-infinitive | all *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

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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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