---
title: We began to talk about certain things which were happening in the pa… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: We began to talk about certain things which were happening in the palace, and of the events of past years. " Who acts: We, certain things. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 33, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 33, sentence 31

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We began to talk about certain things which were happening in the palace, and of the events of past years. "

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**Who acts:** We, certain things · **What happens:** begin, talk, happen · **To what, where:** palace

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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 (We, certain things), 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:pg3027:33:31
# text = We began to talk about certain things which were happening in the palace, and of the events of past years. "
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
5	about	about	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	_
8	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	happening	happen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	acl:relcl	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	events	event	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	past	past	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
23	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | We |  |  |  |  | of the events of past years | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **talk** | to-infinitive | We *not said here* |  |  |  |  | about certain things | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent about thing=Topic |
| 3 | **happen** | past · progressive | certain things |  |  | the palace |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in palace=Location |

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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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