---
title: When the horse had turned a deaf ear to his words the boy wandered i… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the horse had turned a deaf ear to his words the boy wandered idly along, sometimes gathering wild strawberries from a bank, and sometimes plucking wild cherries from a tree, till he reached a clearing in the middle of the forest. Who acts: boy, horse. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by An
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 21, sentence 38

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the horse had turned a deaf ear to his words the boy wandered idly along, sometimes gathering wild strawberries from a bank, and sometimes plucking wild cherries from a tree, till he reached a clearing in the middle of the forest.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** boy, horse · **What happens:** turn, wander, gather, pluck, reach, word · **To what, where:** horse, wild strawberries, bank, wild cherries, tree, clearing

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, horse), 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:pg3282:21:38
# text = When the horse had turned a deaf ear to his words the boy wandered idly along, sometimes gathering wild strawberries from a bank, and sometimes plucking wild cherries from a tree, till he reached a clearing in the middle of the forest.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	horse	horse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	advcl	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	deaf	deaf	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	to	to	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	wandered	wander	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
15	idly	idly	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
16	along	along	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	19	advmod	_	_
19	gathering	gather	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
20	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	strawberries	strawberry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
22	from	from	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
27	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	28	advmod	_	_
28	plucking	pluck	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	advcl	_	_
29	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	cherries	cherry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
31	from	from	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	clearing	clearing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	middle	middle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | past · perfect · passive |  | the horse |  |  |  | to horse's words | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP ADJ.result»: subject=Theme ear=Result |
| 2 | **wander** | past | the boy |  |  |  |  | along, idly *property* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **gather** | gerund | the boy *not said here* | wild strawberries |  | a bank |  | sometimes *property* | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent strawberry=Theme from bank=Source |
| 4 | **pluck** | gerund | the boy *not said here* | wild cherries |  | a tree |  | sometimes *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent cherry=Theme from tree=Source |
| 5 | **reach** | past | boy | a clearing |  | the middle of the forest |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent clearing=Theme |
| 6 | **word** |  | horse |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication transitive»: poss=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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