---
title: In the distance was a mountain down whose sides waters slowly course… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In the distance was a mountain down whose sides waters slowly coursed--these were the tears of unhappy lovers--and nearer the gate were trees without either fruit of flowers, while nettles and brambles covered the ground. Who acts: these, nettles. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/27/46/)

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 27, sentence 46

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In the distance was a mountain down whose sides waters slowly coursed--these were the tears of unhappy lovers--and nearer the gate were trees without either fruit of flowers, while nettles and brambles covered the ground.

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**Who acts:** these, nettles · **What happens:** be, course, cover · **To what, where:** mountain, tears, nearer trees, ground

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 27. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (these, nettles), 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:pg3027:27:46
# text = In the distance was a mountain down whose sides waters slowly coursed--these were the tears of unhappy lovers--and nearer the gate were trees without either fruit of flowers, while nettles and brambles covered the ground.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
7	down	down	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	whose	whose	PRON	WP$	Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	sides	side	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nmod	_	_
10	waters	water	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	coursed	course	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	these	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	17	nsubj	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	tears	tear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	unhappy	unhappy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	lovers	lover	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
23	nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	27	amod	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	gate	gate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	_
28	without	without	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	either	either	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	30	det	_	_
30	fruit	fruit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
34	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
35	nettles	nettle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
37	brambles	bramble	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	conj	_	_
38	covered	cover	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | a mountain |  |  |  | in the distance; down a mountain's sides | tree rules |
| 2 | **course** | present · passive |  | a mountain |  |  |  | slowly *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | these | the tears |  |  |  | of unhappy lovers | tree rules |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | nearer trees |  |  |  | without either fruit of flowers | tree rules |
| 5 | **cover** | past | nettles and brambles | the ground |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme ground=Destination |

<!-- .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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