---
title: Then they saw that, a short way from them, a number of men were work… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then they saw that, a short way from them, a number of men were working on a rock, with one man standing over them. Who acts: brothers, number, one man. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 4, sentence 72

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Then they saw that, a short way from them, a number of men were working on a rock, with one man standing over them.

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**Who acts:** brothers, number, one man · **What happens:** see, work, stand · **To what, where:** that · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (brothers, number, one man), 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:pg3027:4:72
# text = Then they saw that, a short way from them, a number of men were working on a rock, with one man standing over them.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	number	number	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nmod	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	working	work	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	ccomp	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	with	with	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	24	nummod	_	_
24	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	_
25	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	acl	_	_
26	over	over	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | brothers *= brother* | that |  |  | then | a short way from food *obl* | tree rules |
| 2 | **work** | past · progressive | a number of men |  |  |  |  | with one man; on a rock | vn cooperate-73.1-3 «NP V PP.co-agent PP.theme»: agent=Agent on rock=Theme with man=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **stand** | gerund | one man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | over brothers *= brother* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over they=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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