---
title: The night was still and cold, and by the help of the Northern Lights… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The night was still and cold, and by the help of the Northern Lights he could almost sea across to the opposite coast, when, suddenly, he noticed a boat, which seemed steering straight for the island. Who acts: night, dance, boat. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The night was still and cold, and by the help of the Northern Lights he could almost sea across to the opposite coast, when, suddenly, he noticed a boat, which seemed steering straight for the island.

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**Who acts:** night, dance, boat · **What happens:** be, sea, notice, seem, steer, help · **To what, where:** opposite coast, boat, Northern Lights

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (night, dance, boat), 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:pg3282:20:24
# text = The night was still and cold, and by the help of the Northern Lights he could almost sea across to the opposite coast, when, suddenly, he noticed a boat, which seemed steering straight for the island.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	still	still	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	help	help	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	Northern	northern	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	Lights	Light	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
20	across	across	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
21	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	opposite	opposite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	coast	coast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	noticed	notice	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
35	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	36	nsubj	_	_
36	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	acl:relcl	_	_
37	steering	steer	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	36	xcomp	_	_
38	straight	straight	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
39	for	for	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	island	island	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the night |  |  |  | still | cold *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **sea** | could | dance |  |  | the opposite coast |  | by the help of the Northern Lights; almost *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **notice** | past | dance | a boat |  |  |  | suddenly *property* | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer boat=Stimulus |
| 4 | **seem** | past | a boat |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **steer** | gerund | a boat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the island; straight *property* | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **help** |  |  | the Northern Lights |  |  |  |  | nom help «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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