---
title: He was rather dull, for he had never learned how to amuse himself, a… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was rather dull, for he had never learned how to amuse himself, and was peeping through the closed blinds to see what was going on in the street, when a little carriage passed by, drawn by servants dressed in blue and silver. Who acts: cutter, servants. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by A
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was rather dull, for he had never learned how to amuse himself, and was peeping through the closed blinds to see what was going on in the street, when a little carriage passed by, drawn by servants dressed in blue and silver.

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**Who acts:** cutter, servants · **What happens:** be, not learn, amuse, peep, close, see · **To what, where:** cutter, street, little carriage, servants, blue · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (cutter, servants), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg2435:20:8
# text = He was rather dull, for he had never learned how to amuse himself, and was peeping through the closed blinds to see what was going on in the street, when a little carriage passed by, drawn by servants dressed in blue and silver.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	dull	dull	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	learned	learn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	parataxis	_	_
11	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	amuse	amuse	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	xcomp	_	_
14	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	peeping	peep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
19	through	through	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	closed	close	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	amod	_	_
22	blinds	blind	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	advcl	_	_
25	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	27	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	ccomp	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	street	street	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
33	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	40	mark	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	carriage	carriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj:pass	_	_
37	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	36	acl	_	_
38	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	drawn	draw	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
41	by	by	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	servants	servant	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	_
43	dressed	dress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	42	acl	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	blue	blue	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	obl	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	silver	silver	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | cutter |  |  |  |  | dull *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **learn** | past · perfect | cutter |  |  |  |  |  | vn learn-14-2-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **amuse** | to-infinitive | cutter *not said here* | cutter |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus himself=Experiencer |
| 4 | **peep** | past · progressive | cutter *not said here* |  |  |  |  | through the closed blinds | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent through blind=Theme |
| 5 | **close** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **see** | to-infinitive | cutter *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **go on** | past · progressive |  |  |  | the street |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in street=Location |
| 8 | **pass by** | participle |  | a little carriage *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **draw** | participle · passive | servants | a little carriage |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 10 | **dress** | participle |  | servants *not said here* |  | blue |  |  | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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