---
title: They had gone to their mother, who was tending some reindeer on the… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They had gone to their mother, who was tending some reindeer on the pastures, and told her that by some magic, they knew not what, their father's head had rolled from his body, and they had been so afraid that something dreadful would happen to them that they had come to take refuge with her. Who ac
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 35, sentence 95

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They had gone to their mother, who was tending some reindeer on the pastures, and told her that by some magic, they knew not what, their father's head had rolled from his body, and they had been so afraid that something dreadful would happen to them that they had come to take refuge with her.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** children, mother, something dreadful · **What happens:** go, tend, tell, not know, roll, be · **To what, where:** reindeer, pastures, mother, head, body, children · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (children, mother, something dreadful), 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:pg3027:35:95
# text = They had gone to their mother, who was tending some reindeer on the pastures, and told her that by some magic, they knew not what, their father's head had rolled from his body, and they had been so afraid that something dreadful would happen to them that they had come to take refuge with her.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	tending	tend	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	acl	_	_
11	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	12	det	_	_
12	reindeer	reindeer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	on	on	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	pastures	pasture	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
19	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	iobj	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
21	by	by	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	23	det	_	_
23	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	advcl	_	_
27	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	26	advmod	_	_
28	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	's	's	PART	POS	_	31	case	_	_
33	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	rolled	roll	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	acl:relcl	_	_
36	from	from	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
41	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
42	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
43	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	45	cop	_	_
44	so	so	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	conj	_	_
46	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	50	mark	_	_
47	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	48	compound	_	_
48	dreadful	dreadful	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	nsubj	_	_
49	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	50	aux	_	_
50	happen	happen	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	ccomp	_	_
51	to	to	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
52	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	obl	_	_
53	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
54	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
55	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	aux	_	_
56	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	50	advcl	_	_
57	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
58	take	take	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	xcomp	_	_
59	refuge	refuge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obj	_	_
60	with	with	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past · perfect | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | to children's mother | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to mother=Initial\_Location |
| 2 | **tend** | past · progressive | children's mother | some reindeer |  | the pastures |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent reindeer=Theme |
| 3 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past |  |  | mother |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent she=Recipient |
| 4 | **not** **know** | past | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | by some magic | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus |
| 5 | **roll** | past · perfect · passive |  | children's father's head |  | head's body |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: subject=Theme from body=Trajectory |
| 6 | **is** | past · perfect | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **happen** | would | something dreadful |  | children *= child* |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **come** | past · perfect | children *= child* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **take** | to-infinitive | children *= child* *not said here* | refuge |  |  |  | with dreadful | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent refuge=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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