---
title: They were passing along some fields where the corn was ripening, whe… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They were passing along some fields where the corn was ripening, when a rabbit suddenly sprang out at their feet, and standing on its hind legs, it sang: Who acts: trees, corn, rabbit. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 15, with its dependency tree and th
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/15/85/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/15/) / 85

# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 15, sentence 85

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were passing along some fields where the corn was ripening, when a rabbit suddenly sprang out at their feet, and standing on its hind legs, it sang:

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** trees, corn, rabbit · **What happens:** pass, ripen, spring out, stand, sing · **To what, where:** fields, feet, hind legs

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 15. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (trees, corn, rabbit), 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:pg3282:15:85
# text = They were passing along some fields where the corn was ripening, when a rabbit suddenly sprang out at their feet, and standing on its hind legs, it sang:
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	advcl	_	_
4	along	along	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	fields	field	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	obl	_	_
7	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	11	advmod	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	corn	corn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	ripening	ripen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
18	out	out	ADP	RP	_	17	compound:prt	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	hind	hind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	sang	sing	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	31	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past · progressive | trees *= tree* |  |  | some fields |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme along field=Location |
| 2 | **ripen** | past · progressive | the corn |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **spring out** | past | a rabbit |  |  | trees's feet |  | suddenly *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at foot=Trajectory |
| 4 | **stand** | gerund | trees *= tree* *not said here* |  |  | rabbit's hind legs |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on leg=Location |
| 5 | **sing** *speech: express* | past | corn |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/15/84/)
- next →: [sentence 86](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/15/86/)
- ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/15/)