---
title: The children had been lying on the bench, listening lazily to the ch… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The children had been lying on the bench, listening lazily to the chatter up to this point; but when they heard the story of the crystal cradle which their foster-mother had always been fond of telling them, they sat upright and looked at each other. Who acts: children, crystal cradle. A sentence of
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 33, sentence 21

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The children had been lying on the bench, listening lazily to the chatter up to this point; but when they heard the story of the crystal cradle which their foster-mother had always been fond of telling them, they sat upright and looked at each other.

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**Who acts:** children, crystal cradle · **What happens:** lie, listen, chatter up, hear, be, tell · **To what, where:** bench, story, children · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, crystal cradle), 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:pg3027:33:21
# text = The children had been lying on the bench, listening lazily to the chatter up to this point; but when they heard the story of the crystal cradle which their foster-mother had always been fond of telling them, they sat upright and looked at each other.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	aux	_	_
5	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bench	bench	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
11	lazily	lazily	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
14	chatter	chatter	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	amod	_	_
15	up	up	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	_
16	to	to	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	18	det	_	_
18	point	point	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	crystal	crystal	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	cradle	cradle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nmod	_	_
30	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	38	nsubj	_	_
31	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
32	foster	foster	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
35	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
36	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	38	advmod	_	_
37	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	38	cop	_	_
38	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	acl:relcl	_	_
39	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
40	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	38	advcl	_	_
41	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	nsubj	_	_
44	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	parataxis	_	_
45	upright	upright	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	conj	_	_
48	at	at	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	47	obl	_	_
50	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	fixed	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | past · perfect · progressive | the children |  |  | the bench |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on bench=Location |
| 2 | **listen** | gerund | the children *not said here* |  |  |  |  | to the chatter point; lazily *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to point=Theme |
| 3 | **chatter up** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn animal\_sounds-38 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **hear** | past | children *= child* | the story of the crystal cradle |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus |
| 5 | **is** | past · perfect | the crystal cradle |  |  |  |  | always, fond *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund | the crystal cradle *not said here* |  | children *= child* |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 7 | **sit** | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | upright *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **look** | past | children *= child* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at each | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at each=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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