---
title: It was all very well to plan, and even to station a watchman behind… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was all very well to plan, and even to station a watchman behind every bush, but it was of no use, for the man was never caught. Who acts: cage. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was all very well to plan, and even to station a watchman behind every bush, but it was of no use, for the man was never caught.

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**Who acts:** cage · **What happens:** be, not catch · **To what, where:** man

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cage), 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:pg2435:20:63
# text = It was all very well to plan, and even to station a watchman behind every bush, but it was of no use, for the man was never caught.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
3	all	all	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	plan	plan	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
10	even	even	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	PART	TO	_	12	mark	_	_
12	station	station	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	compound	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	watchman	watchman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
15	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	17	det	_	_
17	bush	bush	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	24	det	_	_
24	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux:pass	_	_
30	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | cage |  |  |  |  | a station watchman behind every bush but no use *obl*; plan, well *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past | cage |  |  |  |  | of no use | tree rules |
| 3 | **not** **catch** | past · passive |  | the man |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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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