---
title: 'They perceived what happened, of course; so to-night you had better… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: 'They perceived what happened, of course; so to-night you had better seek your supper further off.' Who acts: traces, you. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 21, sentence 68

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'They perceived what happened, of course; so to-night you had better seek your supper further off.'

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**Who acts:** traces, you · **What happens:** perceive, happen, have, seek · **To what, where:** supper

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (traces, you), 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:pg3027:21:68
# text = 'They perceived what happened, of course; so to-night you had better seek your supper further off.'
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	perceived	perceive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	nsubj	_	_
5	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	obl	_	_
8	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
14	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
16	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	15	xcomp	_	_
17	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	supper	supper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	further	further	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	off	off	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **perceive** | past | traces *= trace* |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **happen** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **have** | past | you |  |  |  | night | good *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **seek** | infinitive | you *not said here* | your supper |  |  |  | off *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent supper=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 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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