---
title: Then he flew away, and in a few minutes a great flock of wild ducks… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he flew away, and in a few minutes a great flock of wild ducks were swimming all up and down the stream looking with all their might, and long before the king came back from his council there it was, safe on the grass beside the prince. Who acts: life, great flock, king, flock. A sentence of «T
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 21, sentence 58

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Then he flew away, and in a few minutes a great flock of wild ducks were swimming all up and down the stream looking with all their might, and long before the king came back from his council there it was, safe on the grass beside the prince.

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**Who acts:** life, great flock, king, flock · **What happens:** fly away, swim, look, come back, be · **To what, where:** council, grass

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (life, great flock, king, flock), 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:pg2435:21:58
# text = Then he flew away, and in a few minutes a great flock of wild ducks were swimming all up and down the stream looking with all their might, and long before the king came back from his council there it was, safe on the grass beside the prince.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	away	away	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obl	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	flock	flock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	ducks	duck	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
17	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	swimming	swim	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
19	all	all	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	up	up	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	down	down	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
25	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
26	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	29	det:predet	_	_
28	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
32	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	36	advmod	_	_
33	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
36	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
37	back	back	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
38	from	from	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	council	council	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
41	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	36	advmod	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
43	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
45	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	parataxis	_	_
46	on	on	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	_
49	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly away** | past | life |  |  |  | then | away *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **swim** | past · progressive | a great flock of wild ducks |  |  |  | minute |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **look** | gerund | a great flock of wild ducks *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **come back** | past | the king |  |  | life's council; there |  | long *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from council=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **is** | past | flock |  |  | the grass |  | beside the prince; safe *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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