---
title: Everyone knew stories of this terrible serpent, though no one had ac… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Everyone knew stories of this terrible serpent, though no one had actually seen it; but from time to time a child strayed from home and never came back, and then mothers would forbid the other children to go near the river, which had juicy fruits and lovely flowers growing along its banks. Who acts:
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 24, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Everyone knew stories of this terrible serpent, though no one had actually seen it; but from time to time a child strayed from home and never came back, and then mothers would forbid the other children to go near the river, which had juicy fruits and lovely flowers growing along its banks.

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**Who acts:** Everyone, one, child, mothers, river, lovely flowers · **What happens:** know, see, stray, not come back, forbid, go · **To what, where:** stories, serpent, home, other children, river, juicy fruits

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Everyone, one, child, mothers), 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:pg3282:24:25
# text = Everyone knew stories of this terrible serpent, though no one had actually seen it; but from time to time a child strayed from home and never came back, and then mothers would forbid the other children to go near the river, which had juicy fruits and lovely flowers growing along its banks.
1	Everyone	everyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Tot	2	nsubj	_	_
2	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	stories	story	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	7	det	_	_
6	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
10	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	11	det	_	_
11	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
13	actually	actually	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	24	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
18	from	from	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	strayed	stray	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	parataxis	_	_
25	from	from	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
28	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	conj	_	_
30	back	back	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	36	advmod	_	_
34	mothers	mother	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	forbid	forbid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	conj	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obj	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	advcl	_	_
42	near	near	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	47	nsubj	_	_
47	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	acl:relcl	_	_
48	juicy	juicy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	fruits	fruit	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	obj	_	_
50	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	52	cc	_	_
51	lovely	lovely	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	flowers	flower	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	conj	_	_
53	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	52	acl	_	_
54	along	along	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	banks	bank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | Everyone | stories of this terrible serpent |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer story=Stimulus |
| 2 | **see** | past · perfect | no one | serpent |  |  |  | actually *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 3 | **stray** | participle | a child |  |  | home | time |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme from home=Trajectory |
| 4 | **not** **come back** | past | a child *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **forbid** | would | mothers | the other children |  |  | then |  | vn forbid-64.4-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer child=Theme |
| 6 | **go** | to-infinitive | mothers *not said here* |  |  | the river |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme near river=Location |
| 7 | **have** | past | the river | juicy fruits and lovely flowers |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fruit=Patient |
| 8 | **grow** | gerund | lovely flowers *not said here* |  |  | serpent's banks |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme along bank=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.

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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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