---
title: In his spare time, instead of playing with the other boys, he passed… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In his spare time, instead of playing with the other boys, he passed hours poring over books, and because he was timid and liked to be alone he was held by everyone to be a little mad. Who acts: spare time, Gilguerillo, everyone. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 38
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 38, sentence 32

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In his spare time, instead of playing with the other boys, he passed hours poring over books, and because he was timid and liked to be alone he was held by everyone to be a little mad.

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**Who acts:** spare time, Gilguerillo, everyone · **What happens:** play, pass, pore, be, like, hold · **To what, where:** books, Gilguerillo

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (spare time, Gilguerillo, everyone), 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:pg3027:38:32
# text = In his spare time, instead of playing with the other boys, he passed hours poring over books, and because he was timid and liked to be alone he was held by everyone to be a little mad.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	4	nmod:poss	_	_
3	spare	spare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	instead	instead	ADV	RB	ExtPos=SCONJ	8	mark	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	fixed	_	_
8	playing	play	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	_
9	with	with	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	hours	hour	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
17	poring	pore	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
18	over	over	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
22	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
25	timid	timid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	advcl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	liked	like	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	25	conj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
29	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	cop	_	_
30	alone	alone	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	xcomp	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	held	hold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
34	by	by	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	33	obl	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
37	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	cop	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	obl:unmarked	_	_
40	mad	mad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **play** | gerund | Gilguerillo's spare time *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the other boys | vn play-114.2-1 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent with boy=Co-Agent |
| 2 | **pass** | past | Gilguerillo |  |  |  | hour; time |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **pore** | gerund | Gilguerillo *not said here* |  |  | books |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | Gilguerillo |  |  |  |  | timid *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **like** | participle | Gilguerillo *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Pivot |
| 6 | **is** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Gilguerillo *not said here* |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **hold** | past · passive | everyone | Gilguerillo |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Theme |
| 8 | **is** | to-infinitive | everyone *not said here* |  |  |  |  | a little *obl:unmarked*; mad *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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