---
title: The old man stopped when he saw this dreadful place, and at first wa… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The old man stopped when he saw this dreadful place, and at first was afraid to go in; but he remembered that, after all, as the proverb says: “It is the unexpected that happens,” and perhaps in the midst of this black spot he might find the child he was seeking. Who acts: old man, child, proverb, t
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 9, sentence 73

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The old man stopped when he saw this dreadful place, and at first was afraid to go in; but he remembered that, after all, as the proverb says: “It is the unexpected that happens,” and perhaps in the midst of this black spot he might find the child he was seeking.

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**Who acts:** old man, child, proverb, that · **What happens:** stop, see, be, go in, remember, say · **To what, where:** dreadful place, that, child · **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 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, child, proverb, that), 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:pg2435:9:73
# text = The old man stopped when he saw this dreadful place, and at first was afraid to go in; but he remembered that, after all, as the proverb says: “It is the unexpected that happens,” and perhaps in the midst of this black spot he might find the child he was seeking.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
8	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	det	_	_
9	dreadful	dreadful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	16	obl	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	in	in	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	remembered	remember	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	after	after	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
29	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	proverb	proverb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
32	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	38	punct	_	_
34	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
36	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	unexpected	unexpected	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	ccomp	_	_
39	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
40	happens	happen	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	38	punct	_	_
43	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
44	perhaps	perhaps	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	midst	midst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	conj	_	_
48	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	51	det	_	_
50	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	nmod	_	_
52	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	54	aux	_	_
54	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	acl:relcl	_	_
55	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
56	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	54	obj	_	_
57	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	59	nsubj	_	_
58	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	59	aux	_	_
59	seeking	seek	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	56	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | past | the old man |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 2 | **see** | past | child | this dreadful place |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer place=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is** | past | child *not said here* |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **go in** | to-infinitive | child *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **remember** | past | child | that |  |  | after all |  | vn characterize-29.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent that=Theme |
| 6 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the proverb |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is** *in a quote* | present | proverb |  |  |  |  | unexpected *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **happen** *in a quote* | present | that |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **find** | might | child | the child |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Topic |
| 10 | **seek** | past · progressive | child | the child *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent child=Theme |

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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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