---
title: This went on for twenty years, and though his sons were now grown up… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: This went on for twenty years, and though his sons were now grown up, and went with their father to the forest, everything seemed to go against them, and they remained as poor as ever. Who acts: This, everything, sons. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 2
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 21, sentence 67

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This went on for twenty years, and though his sons were now grown up, and went with their father to the forest, everything seemed to go against them, and they remained as poor as ever.

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**Who acts:** This, everything, sons · **What happens:** go on, grow up, go, seem, remain · **To what, where:** sons, forest, poor

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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 (This, everything, sons), 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:pg3282:21:67
# text = This went on for twenty years, and though his sons were now grown up, and went with their father to the forest, everything seemed to go against them, and they remained as poor as ever.
1	This	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	nsubj	_	_
2	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	on	on	ADP	RP	_	2	compound:prt	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
6	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
9	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	sons	son	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
13	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
14	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
15	up	up	ADP	RP	_	14	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
22	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	everything	everything	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	27	nsubj	_	_
27	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	conj	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	against	against	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
34	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	remained	remain	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
36	as	as	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	obj	_	_
38	as	as	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go on** | past | This |  |  |  | year |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **grow up** | past · passive |  | Lapplandische's sons |  |  | now |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **go** | past |  |  |  | the forest |  | with sons's father | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to forest=Initial\_Location |
| 4 | **seem** | past | everything |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **go** | to-infinitive | everything *not said here* |  |  |  |  | against sons *= son* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme against they=Location |
| 6 | **remain** | past | sons *= son* | poor |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme poor=Attribute |

<!-- .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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