---
title: He peered about for the crab, but in vain; however, his eyes fell on… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He peered about for the crab, but in vain; however, his eyes fell on the egg, which he snatched up and set on the fire. Who acts: Monkey, eyes, egg. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32, sentence 90

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He peered about for the crab, but in vain; however, his eyes fell on the egg, which he snatched up and set on the fire.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Monkey, eyes, egg · **What happens:** peer, fall, snatch up, set · **To what, where:** egg, fire

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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 (Monkey, eyes, egg), 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:pg2435:32:90
# text = He peered about for the crab, but in vain; however, his eyes fell on the egg, which he snatched up and set on the fire.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	peered	peer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	about	about	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	crab	crab	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	however	however	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
17	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	egg	egg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	snatched	snatch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	acl:relcl	_	_
24	up	up	ADP	RP	_	23	compound:prt	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	set	set	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	23	conj	_	_
27	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **peer** | past | Monkey |  |  |  |  | for the crab; about *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **fall** | past | Monkey's eyes |  |  | the egg |  | however *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on egg=Location |
| 3 | **snatch up** | past | the egg |  |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **set** | participle | the egg *not said here* |  |  | the fire |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V PP.destination NP»: agent=Agent on fire=Destination |

<!-- .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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