---
title: Soon the singing ceased, and straining his ears he heard them discus… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Soon the singing ceased, and straining his ears he heard them discussing anxiously what had become of their cave, and why they could not see the fire as usual. Who acts: singing, ears, robbers. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 14, with its dependenc
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 103

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Soon the singing ceased, and straining his ears he heard them discussing anxiously what had become of their cave, and why they could not see the fire as usual.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** singing, ears, robbers · **What happens:** cease, strain, hear, discuss, become, not see · **To what, where:** ears, fire · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (singing, ears, robbers), 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:pg2435:14:103
# text = Soon the singing ceased, and straining his ears he heard them discussing anxiously what had become of their cave, and why they could not see the fire as usual.
1	Soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	singing	singing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	ceased	cease	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
7	straining	strain	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	csubj	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obj	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	discussing	discuss	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	xcomp	_	_
14	anxiously	anxiously	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	17	xcomp	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	ccomp	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
23	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	conj	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	as	as	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cease** | past | the singing |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **strain** | gerund |  | singing's ears |  |  |  |  | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent ear=Source |
| 3 | **hear** | past | singing | ears *= ear* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **discuss** *speech: other* | gerund | ears *= ear* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn chit\_chat-37.6-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **become** | past · perfect |  |  |  |  |  | of robbers's cave | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **not** **see** | could | robbers *= robber* | the fire |  |  |  | as usual | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer fire=Stimulus as usual=Attribute |

<!-- .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.

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**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.

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