---
title: When they grew up the elder went to seek his fortune in a far countr… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When they grew up the elder went to seek his fortune in a far country, and for many years no one heard anything about him. Who acts: difficulties, elder, one. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 31, sentence 63

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When they grew up the elder went to seek his fortune in a far country, and for many years no one heard anything about him.

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**Who acts:** difficulties, elder, one · **What happens:** grow up, go, seek, hear · **To what, where:** fortune, far country, anything

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (difficulties, elder, one), 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:pg3027:31:63
# text = When they grew up the elder went to seek his fortune in a far country, and for many years no one heard anything about him.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	elder	elder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
7	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	fortune	fortune	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	far	far	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	country	country	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl	_	_
21	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	22	det	_	_
22	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
24	anything	anything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	23	obj	_	_
25	about	about	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow up** | past | difficulties *= difficulty* |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **go** | past | the elder |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **seek** | to-infinitive | the elder *not said here* | elder's fortune |  | a far country |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent fortune=Theme in country=Location |
| 4 | **hear** | past | no one | anything |  |  | year | about elder | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer anything=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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