---
title: Fascinated, he watched them one by one step into the canal, and floa… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Fascinated, he watched them one by one step into the canal, and float quietly upon the waters as if they were part of them. Who acts: bird, syringas. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 9, sentence 107

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Fascinated, he watched them one by one step into the canal, and float quietly upon the waters as if they were part of them.

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**Who acts:** bird, syringas · **What happens:** fascinate, watch, float, be · **To what, where:** syringas, waters

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bird, syringas), 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:pg3027:9:107
# text = Fascinated, he watched them one by one step into the canal, and float quietly upon the waters as if they were part of them.
1	Fascinated	fascinate	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	watched	watch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	obj	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	into	into	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	canal	canal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	float	float	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
16	quietly	quietly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
20	as	as	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	part	part	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fascinate** | participle | bird *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **watch** | past | bird | syringas *= syringa* |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP.attribute»: agent=Agent they=Theme one=Attribute |
| 3 | **float** | present |  |  |  | the waters |  | quietly *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon water=Trajectory |
| 4 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | syringas *= syringa* |  |  |  |  | as part; of blossoms *= blossom* | tree rules |

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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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