--- title: And, best of all, she loved to while away the hours in a shady fir-w… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: And, best of all, she loved to while away the hours in a shady fir-wood, seated upon the bank of a little stream, into which she would cast the flowers she had gathered and watch them float away. Who acts: best, princess, flowers. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/31/83/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/31/) / 83 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 31, sentence 83 And, best of all, she loved to while away the hours in a shady fir-wood, seated upon the bank of a little stream, into which she would cast the flowers she had gathered and watch them float away. **Who acts:** best, princess, flowers · **What happens:** love, while away, seat, cast, gather, watch · **To what, where:** shady fir wood, flowers This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (best, princess, flowers), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3282:31:83 # text = And, best of all, she loved to while away the hours in a shady fir-wood, seated upon the bank of a little stream, into which she would cast the flowers she had gathered and watch them float away. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 2 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ _ 3 best good ADJ JJS Degree=Sup 8 nsubj _ _ 4 of of ADP IN _ 5 case _ _ 5 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 3 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 7 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 nsubj _ _ 8 loved love VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 to to PART TO _ 10 mark _ _ 10 while while VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 xcomp _ _ 11 away away ADV RB _ 10 advmod _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 hours hour NOUN NNS Number=Plur 10 obl:unmarked _ _ 14 in in ADP IN _ 19 case _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 19 det _ _ 16 shady shady ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 19 amod _ _ 17 fir fir NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 18 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 17 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 19 wood wood NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 21 seated seat VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 19 acl _ _ 22 upon upon ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 bank bank NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ _ 25 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 26 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 28 det _ _ 27 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 28 amod _ _ 28 stream stream NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 30 into into ADP IN _ 31 case _ _ 31 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 34 obl _ _ 32 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 33 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 cast cast VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 conj _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 flowers flower NOUN NNS Number=Plur 34 obj _ _ 37 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 38 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 39 aux _ _ 39 gathered gather VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 36 acl:relcl _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 41 cc _ _ 41 watch watch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 conj _ _ 42 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 obj _ _ 43 float float VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 41 xcomp _ _ 44 away away ADV RB _ 43 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **love** | past | best | | | | | | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **while away** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | best *not said here* | | | a shady fir wood | hour | away *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **seat** | participle | | a shady fir wood *not said here* | | | | upon the bank of a little stream | vn fit-54.3 «NP.location V NP»: agent=Location | | 4 | **cast** | would | princess | the flowers | | | | | vn build-26.1 «NP V NP.material PP.product»: agent=Agent flower=Material into which=Product | | 5 | **gather** | past · perfect | princess | the flowers *not said here* | | | | | vn deduce-97.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent flower=Theme | | 6 | **watch** | infinitive | best *not said here* | flowers *= flower* | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **float away** | infinitive | flowers *= flower* *not said here* | | | | | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 82](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/31/82/) - next →: [sentence 84](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/31/84/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/31/)