---
title: While he was pondering what could have brought this into the mercile… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: While he was pondering what could have brought this into the merciless desert, a man drew near who was dressed like a faqir, and had bare head and feet, but walked with the free carriage of a person of rank. Who acts: foot, man. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Bo
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 47

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
While he was pondering what could have brought this into the merciless desert, a man drew near who was dressed like a faqir, and had bare head and feet, but walked with the free carriage of a person of rank.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** foot, man · **What happens:** ponder, bring, draw, dress, have, walk · **To what, where:** this, merciless desert, bare head

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (foot, man), 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:pg3282:1:47
# text = While he was pondering what could have brought this into the merciless desert, a man drew near who was dressed like a faqir, and had bare head and feet, but walked with the free carriage of a person of rank.
1	While	while	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	pondering	ponder	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	aux	_	_
8	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	8	obj	_	_
10	into	into	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	merciless	merciless	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	desert	desert	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
17	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	near	near	ADP	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	dressed	dress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	advcl	_	_
22	like	like	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	faqir	faqir	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
28	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obj	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
35	with	with	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	carriage	carriage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	person	person	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nmod	_	_
42	of	of	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	rank	rank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ponder** | past · progressive | foot |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **bring** | could · perfect · passive |  | this |  | the merciless desert |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: subject=Destination this=Theme |
| 3 | **draw** | past | a man | the merciless desert *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent desert=Theme |
| 4 | **dress** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | like a faqir | vn dress-41.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 5 | **have** | past | a man *not said here* | bare head and feet |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 6 | **walk** | past | a man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with the free carriage of a person of rank | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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