---
title: Here was a good way of passing the time, he thought, for he was fond… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Here was a good way of passing the time, he thought, for he was fond of reading, and he took one of the books from the shelf. Who acts: good way, eye. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 39, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 39, sentence 4

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Here was a good way of passing the time, he thought, for he was fond of reading, and he took one of the books from the shelf.

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**Who acts:** good way, eye · **What happens:** be, pass, think, take · **To what, where:** good way, one, shelf · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 39. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (good way, eye), 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:pg3027:39:4
# text = Here was a good way of passing the time, he thought, for he was fond of reading, and he took one of the books from the shelf.
1	Here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
6	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
7	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	acl	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	for	for	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
17	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	ccomp	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	reading	reading	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	conj	_	_
24	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	23	obj	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	books	book	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	_
28	from	from	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	shelf	shelf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | a good way |  | here |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | gerund | a good way *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | past | eye |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | past | eye |  |  |  |  | of reading; fond *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **take** | past | eye | one of the books |  | the shelf |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent one=Theme from shelf=Initial\_Location |

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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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