---
title: Luckily for himself the serpents were all away for the afternoon, at… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Luckily for himself the serpents were all away for the afternoon, at a meeting of their own, for there is nothing a serpent likes so well for dinner as a nice plump rabbit. Who acts: serpents, nothing, meeting. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 3, sentence 64

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Luckily for himself the serpents were all away for the afternoon, at a meeting of their own, for there is nothing a serpent likes so well for dinner as a nice plump rabbit.

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**Who acts:** serpents, nothing, meeting · **What happens:** be, like

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (serpents, nothing, meeting), 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:pg3282:36:64
# text = Luckily for himself the serpents were all away for the afternoon, at a meeting of their own, for there is nothing a serpent likes so well for dinner as a nice plump rabbit.
1	Luckily	luckily	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
2	for	for	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	1	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	serpents	serpent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nsubj	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	all	all	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	away	away	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	afternoon	afternoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	meeting	meeting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
16	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	for	for	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	22	expl	_	_
22	is	be	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
23	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	22	nsubj	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	appos	_	_
26	likes	like	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
27	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	26	advmod	_	_
29	for	for	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
30	dinner	dinner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
31	as	as	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
33	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
34	plump	plump	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	26	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the serpents |  |  |  | afternoon | all, away, luckily *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | present | nothing |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **like** | present | a meeting of serpents's own |  |  |  |  | for dinner; as a nice plump rabbit; well *property* | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer for dinner=Attribute |

<!-- .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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