---
title: Darker and darker it grew, and the small birds were seeking their ne… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Darker and darker it grew, and the small birds were seeking their nests, and at length Ian Direach could see no more, and he lay down under some bushes and sleep came to him. Who acts: Darker, small birds, bird, sleep. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 7, with its d
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 7, sentence 40

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Darker and darker it grew, and the small birds were seeking their nests, and at length Ian Direach could see no more, and he lay down under some bushes and sleep came to him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Darker, small birds, bird, sleep · **What happens:** grow, seek, see, lie down, come · **To what, where:** nests, more, length, bushes, bird

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (Darker, small birds, bird, sleep), 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:pg3027:7:40
# text = Darker and darker it grew, and the small birds were seeking their nests, and at length Ian Direach could see no more, and he lay down under some bushes and sleep came to him.
1	Darker	dark	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	nsubj	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	darker	dark	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	1	conj	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	nsubj	_	_
11	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	seeking	seek	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
13	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	nests	nest	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
19	Ian	Ian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	appos	_	_
20	Direach	Direach	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	flat	_	_
21	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	conj	_	_
23	no	no	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
29	down	down	ADP	RP	_	28	compound:prt	_	_
30	under	under	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	32	det	_	_
32	bushes	bush	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	sleep	sleep	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
35	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
36	to	to	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | Darker |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **seek** | past · progressive | the small birds | rivers's nests |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nest=Theme |
| 3 | **see** | could | the small birds *not said here* | more |  | length |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer more=Stimulus |
| 4 | **lie down** | past | bird |  |  | some bushes |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent under bush=Location |
| 5 | **come** | past | sleep |  | bird |  |  |  | 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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