---
title: At length some notion of the truth began to dawn on him; but he was… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At length some notion of the truth began to dawn on him; but he was careful to let the old tanuki see nothing, though in his own mind he turned over plans from morning till night, wondering how best he might avenge his mother. Who acts: notion, Tanuki, best. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32, sentence 44

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At length some notion of the truth began to dawn on him; but he was careful to let the old tanuki see nothing, though in his own mind he turned over plans from morning till night, wondering how best he might avenge his mother.

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**Who acts:** notion, Tanuki, best · **What happens:** begin, be, let, see, turn over, wonder · **To what, where:** length, old tanuki, nothing, plans, own mind, mother · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (notion, Tanuki, best), 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:pg2435:32:44
# text = At length some notion of the truth began to dawn on him; but he was careful to let the old tanuki see nothing, though in his own mind he turned over plans from morning till night, wondering how best he might avenge his mother.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	4	det	_	_
4	notion	notion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
8	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	dawn	dawn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	careful	careful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	advcl	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	advcl	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	tanuki	tanuki	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	_
23	see	see	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
24	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
26	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
29	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
33	over	over	ADP	RP	_	32	compound:prt	_	_
34	plans	plan	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
35	from	from	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
36	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
37	till	till	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	wondering	wonder	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	32	advcl	_	_
41	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	42	advmod	_	_
42	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	45	nsubj	_	_
43	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
45	avenge	avenge	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	ccomp	_	_
46	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | some notion of the truth |  |  | length | dawn |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **is** | past | Tanuki |  |  |  |  | careful *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **let** | to-infinitive |  | the old tanuki |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tanuki=Theme |
| 4 | **see** | present |  | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 5 | **turn over** | past | Tanuki | plans |  | Tanuki's own mind | morning; night |  | vn contribute-13.2 «NP V NP.theme (PP)»: agent=Agent plan=Theme |
| 6 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | gerund | Tanuki *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **avenge** | might | best | Tanuki's mother |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **mind** |  | Tanuki |  |  |  |  |  | nom mind «cognition transitive»: poss=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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