---
title: For some time they trotted on without any adventures, till just as t… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: For some time they trotted on without any adventures, till just as they were about to cross a strip of long grass on the edge of the forest, the lion’s quick ears detected a faint rustling noise. Who acts: trees, quick ears. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 28, sentence 85

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For some time they trotted on without any adventures, till just as they were about to cross a strip of long grass on the edge of the forest, the lion’s quick ears detected a faint rustling noise.

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**Who acts:** trees, quick ears · **What happens:** trot on, be, cross, detect · **To what, where:** strip, edge, faint rustling noise

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (trees, quick ears), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3282:28:85
# text = For some time they trotted on without any adventures, till just as they were about to cross a strip of long grass on the edge of the forest, the lion’s quick ears detected a faint rustling noise.
1	For	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	trotted	trot	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	without	without	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
9	adventures	adventure	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
11	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
12	just	just	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
16	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	strip	strip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	’s	's	PART	POS	_	32	case	_	_
34	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
36	detected	detect	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
37	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
38	faint	faint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	amod	_	_
39	rustling	rustling	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	_
40	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trot on** | past | trees *= tree* |  |  |  | time | without any adventures | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | trees *= tree* |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **cross** | to-infinitive | trees *= tree* *not said here* | a strip of long grass |  | the edge of the forest |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent strip=Patient |
| 4 | **detect** | past | the lion's quick ears | a faint rustling noise |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer noise=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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