---
title: But, one day, as he was coming down stairs, he was surprised to see… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But, one day, as he was coming down stairs, he was surprised to see a stranger enter the hall, looking about as if the house belonged to him. Who acts: son, one day, stranger, house. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 31, sentence 66

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But, one day, as he was coming down stairs, he was surprised to see a stranger enter the hall, looking about as if the house belonged to him.

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**Who acts:** son, one day, stranger, house · **What happens:** come down, be, see, enter, look, belong · **To what, where:** stairs, stranger, hall, son

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (son, one day, stranger, house), 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:pg3027:31:66
# text = But, one day, as he was coming down stairs, he was surprised to see a stranger enter the hall, looking about as if the house belonged to him.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
6	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	acl	_	_
10	down	down	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	stairs	stair	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	surprised	surprised	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	stranger	stranger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	enter	enter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	hall	hall	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
25	about	about	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
26	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
27	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
30	belonged	belong	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come down** | past · progressive | son | stairs |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location stair=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | one day |  |  |  |  | surprised *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | one day *not said here* | a stranger |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **enter** | infinitive | a stranger *not said here* | the hall |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme hall=Destination |
| 5 | **look** | gerund | one day *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 6 | **belong** | past | the house |  | son |  |  |  | vn attend-107.4-2 «NP V PP»: agent=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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