--- title: Near the rivers huge tortoises were to be found, and though to our e… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Near the rivers huge tortoises were to be found, and though to our eyes a tortoise seems a dull, slow thing, it is wonderful to think how clever they were, and how often they outwitted many of their livelier friends. Who acts: tortoise, it. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/35/41/) [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/) / [Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted,…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/35/) / 41 # The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2, sentence 41 Near the rivers huge tortoises were to be found, and though to our eyes a tortoise seems a dull, slow thing, it is wonderful to think how clever they were, and how often they outwitted many of their livelier friends. **Who acts:** tortoise, it · **What happens:** find, seem, be, think, outwit · **To what, where:** huge tortoises, rivers, dull slow thing, many · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tortoise, it), 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:pg3282:35:41 # text = Near the rivers huge tortoises were to be found, and though to our eyes a tortoise seems a dull, slow thing, it is wonderful to think how clever they were, and how often they outwitted many of their livelier friends. 1 Near near ADP IN _ 3 case _ _ 2 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 3 det _ _ 3 rivers river NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 obl _ _ 4 huge huge ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 5 amod _ _ 5 tortoises tortoise NOUN NNS Number=Plur 9 nsubj:pass _ _ 6 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 aux:pass _ _ 7 to to PART TO _ 9 mark _ _ 8 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 9 aux:pass _ _ 9 found find VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 12 though though ADV RB _ 18 advmod _ _ 13 to to ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 14 our our PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 15 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 12 obl _ _ 16 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 tortoise tortoise NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nsubj _ _ 18 seems seem VERB VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 9 ccomp _ _ 19 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 20 dull dull ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 22 slow slow ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 thing thing NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 27 punct _ _ 25 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 27 nsubj _ _ 26 is be AUX VBZ Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin 27 cop _ _ 27 wonderful wonderful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 18 parataxis _ _ 28 to to PART TO _ 29 mark _ _ 29 think think VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 csubj _ _ 30 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 31 advmod _ _ 31 clever clever ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 ccomp _ _ 32 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 33 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 cop _ SpaceAfter=No 34 , , PUNCT , _ 39 punct _ _ 35 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 36 how how ADV WRB PronType=Int 37 advmod _ _ 37 often often ADV RB _ 39 advmod _ _ 38 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 39 nsubj _ _ 39 outwitted outwit VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 9 conj _ _ 40 many many ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 39 obj _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 44 case _ _ 42 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 43 livelier lively ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 44 amod _ _ 44 friends friend NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 9 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **find** | past · passive | | huge tortoises | | the rivers | | | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme | | 2 | **seem** | present | a tortoise | a dull slow thing | | | | though *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme thing=Attribute | | 3 | **is** | present | it | | | | | wonderful *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **is** | past | Tortoise | | | | | clever *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **outwit** | past | Tortoise | many of Tortoise's livelier friends | | | | often *property* | vn exceed-90 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot many=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 40](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/35/40/) - next →: [sentence 42](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/35/42/) - ↑ back to [Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/35/)