---
title: During the winter, it was all night except for an hour or so about n… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: During the winter, it was all night except for an hour or so about noon, when the darkness seemed a little less dark, and then they used to see which of them could tempt her out for a sleigh ride with the Northern Lights flashing above them, or which could persuade her to come to a dance in some nei
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/19/163/)

<!-- 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 19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/19/) / 163

# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 19, sentence 163

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
During the winter, it was all night except for an hour or so about noon, when the darkness seemed a little less dark, and then they used to see which of them could tempt her out for a sleigh ride with the Northern Lights flashing above them, or which could persuade her to come to a dance in some neighbouring barn.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** love, darkness, girls, Northern Lights · **What happens:** be, seem, use, see, tempt out, flash · **To what, where:** night, darkness, neighbouring barn · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (love, darkness, girls, Northern Lights), 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:pg3282:19:163
# text = During the winter, it was all night except for an hour or so about noon, when the darkness seemed a little less dark, and then they used to see which of them could tempt her out for a sleigh ride with the Northern Lights flashing above them, or which could persuade her to come to a dance in some neighbouring barn.
1	During	during	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
9	except	except	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
10	for	for	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	_
13	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	12	conj	_	_
15	about	about	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	noon	noon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	21	advmod	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	acl:relcl	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	obl	_	_
24	less	less	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	25	advmod	_	_
25	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
28	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	30	advmod	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	37	obj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	_
36	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
37	tempt	tempt	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	ccomp	_	_
38	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	_
39	out	out	ADP	RP	_	37	compound:prt	_	_
40	for	for	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	sleigh	sleigh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	compound	_	_
43	ride	ride	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
44	with	with	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	Northern	northern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	Lights	light	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nmod	_	_
48	flashing	flash	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	47	acl	_	_
49	above	above	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
50	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
52	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
53	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	55	nsubj	_	_
54	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	55	aux	_	_
55	persuade	persuade	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	advcl	_	_
56	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	obj	_	_
57	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
58	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	55	xcomp	_	_
59	to	to	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
60	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	61	det	_	_
61	dance	dance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	_
62	in	in	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
63	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	65	det	_	_
64	neighbouring	neighbouring	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	65	amod	_	_
65	barn	barn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | love | all night |  |  | hour; winter |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **seem** | past | the darkness |  |  |  |  | dark *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **use** | past | girls *= girl* |  |  |  | then |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **see** | to-infinitive | girls *= girl* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 5 | **tempt out** | could |  | darkness |  |  |  | of girls *= girl*; for a sleigh ride with the Northern Lights | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Stimulus which=Experiencer she=Result |
| 6 | **flash** | gerund | the Northern Lights *not said here* |  |  |  |  | above girls *= girl* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme above they=Location |
| 7 | **persuade** | could |  | darkness |  |  |  |  | vn compel-59.1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent she=Patient clause=Result |
| 8 | **come** | to-infinitive | darkness *not said here* |  |  | some neighbouring barn |  | to a dance | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to dance=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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 162](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/19/162/)
- next →: [sentence 164](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/19/164/)
- ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/19/)