---
title: Nothing was to be seen but the shining of the river, and the dark sh… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Nothing was to be seen but the shining of the river, and the dark shadows of the trees; nothing was to be heard but the hum of the insects, as they darted through the night. Who acts: insects. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, with its dependency tre
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Nothing was to be seen but the shining of the river, and the dark shadows of the trees; nothing was to be heard but the hum of the insects, as they darted through the night.

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**Who acts:** insects · **What happens:** see, hear, dart, shine, shadow, hum · **To what, where:** Nothing, river, trees

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (insects), 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:pg3282:11:38
# text = Nothing was to be seen but the shining of the river, and the dark shadows of the trees; nothing was to be heard but the hum of the insects, as they darted through the night.
1	Nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	shining	shining	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	trees	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
24	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	aux:pass	_	_
25	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	hum	hum	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	insects	insect	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	darted	dart	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
36	through	through	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past · passive |  | Nothing |  |  |  | the dark shadows of the trees *obl* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **hear** | past · passive |  | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **dart** | past | insects *= insect* |  |  |  | night |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **shine** |  |  | the river |  |  |  |  | nom shining «act transitive»: of=patient |
| 5 | **shadow** |  |  | the trees |  |  |  |  | nom shadow «state transitive»: of=patient |
| 6 | **hum** |  | the insects |  |  |  |  |  | nom hum «state intransitive»: of=agent |

<!-- .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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