--- title: The boy ran to catch it, but though he ran very fast, and the bird s… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The boy ran to catch it, but though he ran very fast, and the bird seemed to flutter along very slowly, he never could quite come up with it; it was always just a little in advance. Who acts: boy, bird, aim. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 13, with --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/13/83/) [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/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/13/) / 83 # The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 13, sentence 83 The boy ran to catch it, but though he ran very fast, and the bird seemed to flutter along very slowly, he never could quite come up with it; it was always just a little in advance. **Who acts:** boy, bird, aim · **What happens:** run, catch, seem, flutter, not come up, be · **To what, where:** aim, advance This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, bird, aim), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2435:13:83 # text = The boy ran to catch it, but though he ran very fast, and the bird seemed to flutter along very slowly, he never could quite come up with it; it was always just a little in advance. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 nsubj _ _ 3 ran run VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 to to PART TO _ 5 mark _ _ 5 catch catch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 xcomp _ _ 6 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 11 punct _ _ 8 but but CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 9 though though SCONJ IN _ 11 mark _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 11 nsubj _ _ 11 ran run VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 12 very very ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 13 fast fast ADV RB Degree=Pos 11 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nsubj _ _ 18 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 19 to to PART TO _ 20 mark _ _ 20 flutter flutter VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 18 xcomp _ _ 21 along along ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ _ 22 very very ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 23 slowly slowly ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 25 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 26 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 29 advmod _ _ 27 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ _ 28 quite quite ADV RB _ 29 advmod _ _ 29 come come VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 20 conj _ _ 30 up up ADP RP _ 29 compound:prt _ _ 31 with with ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 ; ; PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 35 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 cop _ _ 36 always always ADV RB PronType=Tot 39 advmod _ _ 37 just just ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 39 det _ _ 39 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 3 parataxis _ _ 40 in in ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 41 advance advance NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **run** | past | the boy | | | | | | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 2 | **catch** | to-infinitive | the boy *not said here* | aim | | | | | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 3 | **run** | past | boy | | | | | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **seem** | past | the bird | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute | | 5 | **flutter** | to-infinitive | the bird *not said here* | | | | | along, slowly *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **not** **come up** | could | boy | | | | | with aim | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **is** | past | aim | | | advance | | always, little *property* | tree rules | 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. **Text:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/13/82/) - next →: [sentence 84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/13/84/) - ↑ back to [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/13/)