---
title: At first he could hardly stand for joy, the chance of speaking to an… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At first he could hardly stand for joy, the chance of speaking to another man was so delightful; but as the boat drew near there was something, he could not tell what, that was different from the boats which he had been used to all his life, and when it touched the shore he saw that the people that 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At first he could hardly stand for joy, the chance of speaking to another man was so delightful; but as the boat drew near there was something, he could not tell what, that was different from the boats which he had been used to all his life, and when it touched the shore he saw that the people that filled it were beings of another world than ours.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** dance, chance, man, boat, something, that · **What happens:** stand, speak, be, draw, not tell, use · **To what, where:** boats, shore, boat, beings · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (dance, chance, man, 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:pg3282:20:25
# text = At first he could hardly stand for joy, the chance of speaking to another man was so delightful; but as the boat drew near there was something, he could not tell what, that was different from the boats which he had been used to all his life, and when it touched the shore he saw that the people that filled it were beings of another world than ours.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	6	obl	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	joy	joy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	appos	_	_
12	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
13	speaking	speak	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	acl	_	_
14	to	to	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
15	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	det	_	_
16	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	delightful	delightful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
21	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	advcl	_	_
26	near	near	ADP	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	28	expl	_	_
28	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	ccomp	_	_
29	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	28	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
35	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	39	nsubj	_	_
38	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	cop	_	_
39	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	parataxis	_	_
40	from	from	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	boats	boat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	_
43	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	47	nsubj:pass	_	_
44	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
45	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
46	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	47	aux:pass	_	_
47	used	use	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	42	acl:relcl	_	_
48	to	to	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
49	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	51	det:predet	_	_
50	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
54	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	56	advmod	_	_
55	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	56	nsubj	_	_
56	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	obj	_	_
59	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	60	nsubj	_	_
60	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	acl:relcl	_	_
61	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	68	mark	_	_
62	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	63	det	_	_
63	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	68	nsubj	_	_
64	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	65	nsubj	_	_
65	filled	fill	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	63	acl:relcl	_	_
66	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	65	obj	_	_
67	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	68	cop	_	_
68	beings	being	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	obj	_	_
69	of	of	ADP	IN	_	71	case	_	_
70	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	71	det	_	_
71	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	68	nmod	_	_
72	than	than	ADP	IN	_	73	case	_	_
73	ours	our	PRON	PRP	Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	60	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stand** | could | dance |  |  |  |  | for joy; hardly *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at first=Location |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | gerund | the chance *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | another man |  |  |  |  | delightful *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **draw** | past | the boat |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** | past | something |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | could | dance |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent what=Recipient |
| 7 | **is** | past | that |  |  | the boats |  | different *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **use** | past · perfect · passive |  | the boats |  |  |  | to dance's life | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 9 | **touch** | past | boat | the shore |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme shore=Co-Theme |
| 10 | **see** | past | dance | the shore *not said here* |  |  |  | than ours | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer shore=Stimulus |
| 11 | **fill** | past | the people | boat |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 12 | **is a** | past | the people | beings |  |  |  | of another world | tree rules |

<!-- .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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