---
title: In the middle of the river lay a stone that was always covered by wa… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In the middle of the river lay a stone that was always covered by water, except in dry seasons, and as the winter rains had been very heavy, he felt quite sure that not even the top of it could be seen. Who acts: water, winter rains, Andras. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Open
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 36, sentence 102

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In the middle of the river lay a stone that was always covered by water, except in dry seasons, and as the winter rains had been very heavy, he felt quite sure that not even the top of it could be seen.

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**Who acts:** water, winter rains, Andras · **What happens:** lie, cover, be, feel, see · **To what, where:** stone, middle, top

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (water, winter rains, Andras), 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:pg3027:36:102
# text = In the middle of the river lay a stone that was always covered by water, except in dry seasons, and as the winter rains had been very heavy, he felt quite sure that not even the top of it could be seen.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
12	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	13	advmod	_	_
13	covered	cover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	except	except	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	seasons	season	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	_
26	rains	rain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
28	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	30	cop	_	_
29	very	very	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
34	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	xcomp	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
37	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	40	advmod	_	_
38	even	even	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj:pass	_	_
41	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nmod	_	_
43	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	45	aux	_	_
44	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	aux:pass	_	_
45	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	35	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lie** | past |  | a stone |  | the middle of the river | season |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location stone=Theme |
| 2 | **cover** | past · passive | water | a stone |  |  |  | always *property* | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Destination |
| 3 | **is** | past · perfect | the winter rains |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **feel** | past | Andras |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **see** | could · passive |  | the top of river |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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