---
title: So the time slipped by till Ian was almost a man, as they reckoned m… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So the time slipped by till Ian was almost a man, as they reckoned men in those days, and then his mother the queen died. Who acts: time, tales, mother. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 7, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 7, sentence 25

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So the time slipped by till Ian was almost a man, as they reckoned men in those days, and then his mother the queen died.

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**Who acts:** time, tales, mother · **What happens:** slip, be, reckon, die · **To what, where:** time, man, men

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (time, tales, mother), 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:pg3027:7:25
# text = So the time slipped by till Ian was almost a man, as they reckoned men in those days, and then his mother the queen died.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
4	slipped	slip	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	acl	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	till	till	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	Ian	Ian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	reckoned	reckon	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
16	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
19	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
22	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	27	advmod	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	queen	queen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	died	die	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **slip** | participle |  | the time *not said here* |  |  |  | by Ian | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **is a** | past | the time | a man |  |  |  | almost *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **reckon** | past | tales *= tale* | men |  |  | day |  | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Agent man=Attribute |
| 4 | **die** | past | Ian's mother |  |  |  | then |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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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