---
title: Ardan son of Gorla was sitting under a tree, when he beheld a staff… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Ardan son of Gorla was sitting under a tree, when he beheld a staff of gold and a staff of silver doubling themselves in strange ways on the meadow in front of him, and starting up he hastened towards them. Who acts: Ardan son, son, staff. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Openin
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 30, sentence 25

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Ardan son of Gorla was sitting under a tree, when he beheld a staff of gold and a staff of silver doubling themselves in strange ways on the meadow in front of him, and starting up he hastened towards them.

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**Who acts:** Ardan son, son, staff · **What happens:** sit, behold, double, start up, hasten · **To what, where:** tree, staff, cows, strange ways

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Ardan son, son, staff), 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:pg3027:30:25
# text = Ardan son of Gorla was sitting under a tree, when he beheld a staff of gold and a staff of silver doubling themselves in strange ways on the meadow in front of him, and starting up he hastened towards them.
1	Ardan	Ardan	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	compound	_	_
2	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	Gorla	Gorla	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	under	under	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	beheld	behold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	gold	gold	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	staff	staff	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
23	doubling	double	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
24	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	23	obj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	ways	way	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	meadow	meadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
31	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
36	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
37	starting	start	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	40	advcl	_	_
38	up	up	ADP	RP	_	37	compound:prt	_	_
39	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	hastened	hasten	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
41	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past · progressive | Ardan son of Gorla |  |  | a tree |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent under tree=Location |
| 2 | **behold** | past | son | a staff of gold |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer staff=Stimulus |
| 3 | **double** | gerund | a staff of silver | cows *= cow* |  | strange ways on the meadow in front of son |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent themselves=Patient |
| 4 | **start up** | gerund | staff *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **hasten** | past | staff |  |  |  |  | towards cows *= cow* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme towards they=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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