---
title: It was at this moment of his blackest misery that, one night, a drag… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was at this moment of his blackest misery that, one night, a dragon who had long watched him from the roof crept to his side. Who acts: lake, one night. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 29, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 29, sentence 23

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It was at this moment of his blackest misery that, one night, a dragon who had long watched him from the roof crept to his side.

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**Who acts:** lake, one night · **What happens:** be, watch, creep · **To what, where:** dragon, roof, blackest misery

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lake, one night), 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:pg3027:29:23
# text = It was at this moment of his blackest misery that, one night, a dragon who had long watched him from the roof crept to his side.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
5	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
8	blackest	black	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	9	amod	_	_
9	misery	misery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	appos	_	_
17	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
18	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	20	advmod	_	_
20	watched	watch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl:relcl	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	roof	roof	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
25	crept	creep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
26	to	to	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | lake |  |  |  | at this moment | of king's blackest misery | tree rules |
| 2 | **watch** | past · perfect · passive |  | a dragon |  | the roof |  | long *property* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP.attribute»: subject=Theme he=Attribute |
| 3 | **creep** | past | one night | king's blackest misery |  |  |  | to king's side | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location that=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 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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