---
title: He opened the paper, not knowing what it might contain, and was asto… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He opened the paper, not knowing what it might contain, and was astonished to find that it was the acknowledgment of a large debt that was owing to his father. Who acts: wanderer, paper, large debt. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 31, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 31, sentence 80

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He opened the paper, not knowing what it might contain, and was astonished to find that it was the acknowledgment of a large debt that was owing to his father.

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**Who acts:** wanderer, paper, large debt · **What happens:** open, not know, contain, be, find, owe · **To what, where:** paper, acknowledgment, father · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (wanderer, paper, large debt), 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:pg3027:31:80
# text = He opened the paper, not knowing what it might contain, and was astonished to find that it was the acknowledgment of a large debt that was owing to his father.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	paper	paper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
7	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
8	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	11	obj	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
10	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	contain	contain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	astonished	astonished	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	acknowledgment	acknowledgment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	ccomp	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	debt	debt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
27	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	29	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	owing	owe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	26	acl:relcl	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **open** | past | wanderer | the paper |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location paper=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **know** | gerund | wanderer *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **contain** | might | paper |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprise-107.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | wanderer *not said here* |  |  |  |  | astonished *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **find** | to-infinitive | wanderer *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | past | paper | the acknowledgment |  |  |  | of a large debt | tree rules |
| 7 | **owe** | past · progressive | a large debt |  | wanderer's father |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent to father=Goal |

<!-- .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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