---
title: How long he might have been walking there he never could have told y… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: How long he might have been walking there he never could have told you, when at last he reached the mouth of a cave where the darkness seemed a hundred times darker than the wood itself. Who acts: child, darkness. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 9,
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 9, sentence 75

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How long he might have been walking there he never could have told you, when at last he reached the mouth of a cave where the darkness seemed a hundred times darker than the wood itself.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** child, darkness · **What happens:** walk, not tell, reach, seem · **To what, where:** you, mouth, last · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (child, darkness), 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:pg2435:9:75
# text = How long he might have been walking there he never could have told you, when at last he reached the mouth of a cave where the darkness seemed a hundred times darker than the wood itself.
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	7	advmod	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
4	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	aux	_	_
7	walking	walk	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
8	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
10	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux	_	_
13	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	ccomp	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	13	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	20	mark	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
26	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	29	advmod	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	acl:relcl	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	nummod	_	_
32	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl:unmarked	_	_
33	darker	dark	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	29	xcomp	_	_
34	than	than	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
37	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	36	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **walk** | might · perfect · progressive | child |  |  | there |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | could · perfect | child |  | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent you=Recipient |
| 3 | **reach** | past | child | the mouth of a cave |  | last |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent mouth=Theme at last=Asset |
| 4 | **seem** | past | the darkness |  |  |  |  | dark *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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