--- title: But about midnight, when the robbers saw from afar that the lights w… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: But about midnight, when the robbers saw from afar that the lights were out and that all seemed quiet, they began to think that they had been in too great a hurry to run away; and one of them, who was bolder than the rest, went to see what was going on. Who acts: robbers, lights, one. A sentence of --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/5/41/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Grimms' Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/) / [The Travelling Musicians](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/5/) / 41 # Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Travelling Musicians, sentence 41 But about midnight, when the robbers saw from afar that the lights were out and that all seemed quiet, they began to think that they had been in too great a hurry to run away; and one of them, who was bolder than the rest, went to see what was going on. **Who acts:** robbers, lights, one · **What happens:** see, be, seem, begin, think, run away · **To what, where:** afar · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Travelling Musicians. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (robbers, lights, one), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg2591:5:41 # text = But about midnight, when the robbers saw from afar that the lights were out and that all seemed quiet, they began to think that they had been in too great a hurry to run away; and one of them, who was bolder than the rest, went to see what was going on. 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 2 about about ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 3 midnight midnight NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 5 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 8 advmod _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 robbers robber NOUN NNS Number=Plur 8 nsubj _ _ 8 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 from from ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 10 afar afar ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 8 obl _ _ 11 that that SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 lights light NOUN NNS Number=Plur 15 nsubj _ _ 14 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 15 cop _ _ 15 out out ADV RB _ 8 ccomp _ _ 16 and and CCONJ CC _ 15 cc _ _ 17 that that SCONJ IN _ 19 mark _ _ 18 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 19 advmod _ _ 19 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 ccomp _ _ 20 quiet quiet ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 22 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 23 nsubj _ _ 23 began begin VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 conj _ _ 24 to to PART TO _ 25 mark _ _ 25 think think VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 xcomp _ _ 26 that that SCONJ IN _ 32 mark _ _ 27 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 32 nsubj _ _ 28 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 32 aux _ _ 29 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 32 cop _ _ 30 in in ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 too too ADV RB _ 32 advmod _ _ 32 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 ccomp _ _ 33 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 hurry hurry NOUN NN Number=Sing 32 nsubj _ _ 35 to to PART TO _ 36 mark _ _ 36 run run VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 acl _ _ 37 away away ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 38 ; ; PUNCT : _ 46 punct _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 46 cc _ _ 40 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 46 nsubj _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 42 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 43 , , PUNCT , _ 46 punct _ _ 44 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 46 nsubj _ _ 45 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 cop _ _ 46 bolder bold ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 8 conj _ _ 47 than than ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 49 det _ _ 49 rest rest NOUN NN Number=Sing 51 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 , , PUNCT , _ 49 punct _ _ 51 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 conj _ _ 52 to to PART TO _ 53 mark _ _ 53 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 51 xcomp _ _ 54 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 56 nsubj _ _ 55 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 56 aux _ _ 56 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 53 ccomp _ _ 57 on on ADP RP _ 56 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 58 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **see** | past | the robbers | | | afar | midnight | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **is** | past | the lights | | | | | out *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **seem** | past | the lights *not said here* | | | | | quiet *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **begin** | past | robbers *= robber* | | | | | | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 5 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | robbers *= robber* *not said here* | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **is** | past · perfect | robbers *= robber* | | | | | great *property* | tree rules | | 7 | **run away** | to-infinitive | robbers *= robber* *not said here* | | | | | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **is** | past | one of robbers | | | | | bold *property* | tree rules | | 9 | **go** | past | one of robbers *not said here* | | | | | than the rest | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 10 | **see** | to-infinitive | one of robbers *not said here* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 11 | **go on** | past · progressive | | | | | | | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **Text:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/5/40/) - next →: [sentence 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/5/42/) - ↑ back to [The Travelling Musicians](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2591/5/)