---
title: Sill he tried to go back, but he could not, and though he could not… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Sill he tried to go back, but he could not, and though he could not see the birds any longer he felt as if something were dragging him up and up. Who acts: Sill, bird, something. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 35, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 35, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Sill he tried to go back, but he could not, and though he could not see the birds any longer he felt as if something were dragging him up and up.

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**Who acts:** Sill, bird, something · **What happens:** try, go back, not see, feel, drag up · **To what, where:** birds, bird

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Sill, bird, something), 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:pg3027:35:17
# text = Sill he tried to go back, but he could not, and though he could not see the birds any longer he felt as if something were dragging him up and up.
1	Sill	sill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	back	back	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	18	advmod	_	_
18	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	conj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	any	any	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	24	advmod	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
24	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
25	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
26	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	29	nsubj	_	_
28	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	dragging	drag	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	24	advcl	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	up	up	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	up	up	ADV	RB	_	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | Sill |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **go back** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Sill *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **not** **see** | could | Sill | the birds |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bird=Stimulus |
| 4 | **feel** | past | bird |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **drag up** | past · progressive | something | bird |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=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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