---
title: At length, when he was getting quite old, he came to a place unlike… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At length, when he was getting quite old, he came to a place unlike any that he had ever seen before, where a big river rolled right to the foot of some high mountains. Who acts: cat, big river. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29, with its dependency t
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At length, when he was getting quite old, he came to a place unlike any that he had ever seen before, where a big river rolled right to the foot of some high mountains.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** cat, big river · **What happens:** get, come, see, roll · **To what, where:** length, foot

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cat, big river), 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:pg3282:29:16
# text = At length, when he was getting quite old, he came to a place unlike any that he had ever seen before, where a big river rolled right to the foot of some high mountains.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
4	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	7	advmod	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	getting	get	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	parataxis	_	_
8	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	_
16	unlike	unlike	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	15	nmod	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	22	advmod	_	_
22	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
23	before	before	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
25	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	29	advmod	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	rolled	roll	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	conj	_	_
30	right	right	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
35	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	37	det	_	_
36	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	37	amod	_	_
37	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past · progressive | cat |  |  |  |  | old *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **come** | past | cat |  |  | length |  | to a place unlike any | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to place=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **see** | past · perfect | cat |  |  |  | ever | before *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **roll** | participle | a big river |  |  | the foot of some high mountains |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to foot=Destination |

<!-- .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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