---
title: At last he began to understand what had happened to him, and while h… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At last he began to understand what had happened to him, and while he was taking counsel with himself what had best be done, the raven came to him. Who acts: accident, raven. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every c
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 5, sentence 69

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At last he began to understand what had happened to him, and while he was taking counsel with himself what had best be done, the raven came to him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** accident, raven · **What happens:** begin, understand, happen, take, do, come · **To what, where:** last, accident, counsel · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (accident, raven), 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:pg3027:5:69
# text = At last he began to understand what had happened to him, and while he was taking counsel with himself what had best be done, the raven came to him.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	obl	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	understand	understand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
7	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	9	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	happened	happen	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	ccomp	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
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	aux	_	_
17	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
18	counsel	counsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	17	obl	_	_
21	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	25	obj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
23	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	25	advmod	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **begin** | past | accident |  |  | last |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **understand** | to-infinitive | accident *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **happen** | past · perfect |  |  | accident |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **take** | past · progressive | accident | counsel |  |  |  | with accident | vn characterize-29.2 «NP V NP to be ADJ»: agent=Agent counsel=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **do** | past · passive | accident *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: what=Eventuality |
| 6 | **come** | past | the raven |  | accident |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to he=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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