--- title: This went on for some time, but at last one of the boys spied out a… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: This went on for some time, but at last one of the boys spied out a woodpecker in the meadow-lands among the wood-pigeons, and when he had found her nest in a half-dead alder tree, came running to Peter with the news of his discovery. Who acts: This, Peter. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/16/51/) [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 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/16/) / 51 # The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 16, sentence 51 This went on for some time, but at last one of the boys spied out a woodpecker in the meadow-lands among the wood-pigeons, and when he had found her nest in a half-dead alder tree, came running to Peter with the news of his discovery. **Who acts:** This, Peter · **What happens:** go on, spy out, find, come, run, discover · **To what, where:** woodpecker, meadow lands, nest, dead alder tree, Peter This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 16. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (This, Peter), 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:pg2435:16:51 # text = This went on for some time, but at last one of the boys spied out a woodpecker in the meadow-lands among the wood-pigeons, and when he had found her nest in a half-dead alder tree, came running to Peter with the news of his discovery. 1 This this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 2 nsubj _ _ 2 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 on on ADP RP _ 2 compound:prt _ _ 4 for for ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 5 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 6 det _ _ 6 time time NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 7 , , PUNCT , _ 15 punct _ _ 8 but but CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 9 at at ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 last last ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 one one NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obl _ _ 12 of of ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 boys boy NOUN NNS Number=Plur 11 nmod _ _ 15 spied spy VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 16 out out ADP RP _ 15 compound:prt _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 woodpecker woodpecker NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ _ 19 in in ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 20 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 21 meadow meadow NOUN NN Number=Sing 23 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 22 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 21 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 23 lands land NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obl _ _ 24 among among ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 25 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 26 wood wood NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 27 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 26 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 28 pigeons pigeon NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 31 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 34 advmod _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 found find VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 2 parataxis _ _ 35 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 36 nmod:poss _ _ 36 nest nest NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obj _ _ 37 in in ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 39 half half NOUN NN Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac 41 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 40 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 43 amod _ _ 42 alder alder NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 compound _ _ 43 tree tree NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 , , PUNCT , _ 45 punct _ _ 45 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 parataxis _ _ 46 running run VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 45 advcl _ _ 47 to to ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 48 Peter Peter PROPN NNP Number=Sing 46 obl _ _ 49 with with ADP IN _ 51 case _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 51 det _ _ 51 news news NOUN NN Number=Sing 46 obl _ _ 52 of of ADP IN _ 54 case _ _ 53 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 54 nmod:poss _ _ 54 discovery discovery NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 55 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **go on** | past | This | | | | time | | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **spy out** | past | This *not said here* | a woodpecker | | the meadow lands | | at last one of the boys; among the wood pigeons | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer woodpecker=Stimulus | | 3 | **find** | past · perfect | Peter | woodpecker's nest | | a dead alder tree | | | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nest=Topic | | 4 | **come** | past | | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **run** | gerund | | | Peter | | | with the news of Peter's discovery | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to peter=Result | | 6 | **discover** | | Peter | | | | | | nom discovery «act transitive»: poss=agent | 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 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/16/50/) - next →: [sentence 52](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/16/52/) - ↑ back to [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/16/)