--- title: They were as white as snow which had fallen during the night, and th… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: They were as white as snow which had fallen during the night, and their long necks with yellow bills were stretched southwards, for they were going--they did not quite know whither--but to a land where the sun shone all day. Who acts: globe, snow, sun. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/83/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/) / 83 # The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 9, sentence 83 They were as white as snow which had fallen during the night, and their long necks with yellow bills were stretched southwards, for they were going--they did not quite know whither--but to a land where the sun shone all day. **Who acts:** globe, snow, sun · **What happens:** be, fall, stretch, go, not know, shine · **To what, where:** long necks 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 (globe, snow, sun), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3027:9:83 # text = They were as white as snow which had fallen during the night, and their long necks with yellow bills were stretched southwards, for they were going--they did not quite know whither--but to a land where the sun shone all day. 1 They they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 2 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 3 as as ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 white white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 5 as as ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 6 snow snow NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 7 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 9 nsubj _ _ 8 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 aux _ _ 9 fallen fall VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 6 acl:relcl _ _ 10 during during ADP IN _ 12 case _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 13 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 14 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 15 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 17 nmod:poss _ _ 16 long long ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 amod _ _ 17 necks neck NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 nsubj:pass _ _ 18 with with ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 yellow yellow ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 amod _ _ 20 bills bill NOUN NNS Number=Plur 22 obl _ _ 21 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 aux:pass _ _ 22 stretched stretch VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 4 parataxis _ _ 23 southwards southwards ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 25 for for SCONJ IN _ 28 mark _ _ 26 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 27 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 aux _ _ 28 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 22 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 29 -- -- PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 30 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 31 did do AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 32 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 34 advmod _ _ 33 quite quite ADV RB _ 34 advmod _ _ 34 know know VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 28 conj _ _ 35 whither whither ADV WRB PronType=Int 34 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 36 -- -- PUNCT , _ 44 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 37 but but CCONJ CC _ 44 cc _ _ 38 to to ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 39 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 land land NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obl _ _ 41 where where ADV WRB PronType=Rel 44 advmod _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 sun sun NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 nsubj _ _ 44 shone shine VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 45 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 46 det _ _ 46 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 44 obl:unmarked _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | globe | | | | | as snow; white *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **fall** | past · perfect | snow | | | | night | | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 3 | **stretch** | past · passive | | globe's long necks | | | | with yellow bills; southwards *property* | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: subject=Patient with bill=Instrument | | 4 | **go** | past · progressive | globe | | | | | | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | globe | | | | | whither *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **shine** | past | the sun | | | | day | to a land | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/82/) - next →: [sentence 84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/84/) - ↑ back to [Opening, part 9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/9/)