---
title: Many times a shining stone at the bottom of the stream was taken for… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Many times a shining stone at the bottom of the stream was taken for the slipper itself, and every evening saw a band of dripping downcast men returning homewards. Who acts: evening, band, downcast men. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 37, with its dependency tree 
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 37, sentence 83

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Many times a shining stone at the bottom of the stream was taken for the slipper itself, and every evening saw a band of dripping downcast men returning homewards.

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**Who acts:** evening, band, downcast men · **What happens:** shine, take, see, drip, return · **To what, where:** shining stone, band, downcast men, homewards

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 37. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (evening, band, downcast men), 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:pg3027:37:83
# text = Many times a shining stone at the bottom of the stream was taken for the slipper itself, and every evening saw a band of dripping downcast men returning homewards.
1	Many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	amod	_	_
2	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	shining	shine	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
5	stone	stone	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	bottom	bottom	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	stream	stream	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	slipper	slipper	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	16	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	21	det	_	_
21	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
22	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	band	band	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
26	dripping	drip	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	acl	_	_
27	downcast	downcast	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
29	returning	return	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	28	acl	_	_
30	homewards	homeward	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shine** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **take** | past · passive |  | a shining stone at the bottom of the stream |  |  | time | for the slipper  Slipper | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: subject=Theme for slipper=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **see** | past | every evening | a band |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer band=Stimulus |
| 4 | **drip** | gerund | a band *not said here* | downcast men |  |  |  |  | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location man=Source |
| 5 | **return** | gerund | downcast men *not said here* | homewards |  |  |  |  | vn send-11.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent homeward=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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