---
title: All the way across the lake he thought and thought, till at length a… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: All the way across the lake he thought and thought, till at length a plan came into his head which seemed as if it might do, though he knew it would be very difficult to carry out. Who acts: goat, plan, head. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 17, with its dependency
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 17, sentence 5

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All the way across the lake he thought and thought, till at length a plan came into his head which seemed as if it might do, though he knew it would be very difficult to carry out.

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**Who acts:** goat, plan, head · **What happens:** think, come, seem, do, know, be · **To what, where:** way, length · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 17. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (goat, plan, head), 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:pg3027:17:5
# text = All the way across the lake he thought and thought, till at length a plan came into his head which seemed as if it might do, though he knew it would be very difficult to carry out.
1	All	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	3	det:predet	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	across	across	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	lake	lake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	plan	plan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	ccomp	_	_
18	into	into	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
21	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
22	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
29	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
32	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	expl	_	_
33	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
34	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	cop	_	_
35	very	very	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	difficult	difficult	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	ccomp	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	carry	carry	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	xcomp	_	_
39	out	out	ADP	RP	_	38	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | past | goat | all way across the lake |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | goat *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **come** | past | a plan |  |  | length |  | into goat's head | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme into head=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **seem** | past | goat's head |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **do** *a condition, not said to happen* | might | plan |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **know** | past | goat |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 7 | **is** | would |  |  |  |  |  | difficult *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **carry out** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114 «NP V NP»: agent=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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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