---
title: On the way they arrived on the banks of a river, and as there were n… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: On the way they arrived on the banks of a river, and as there were no bridges in those days it was necessary to swim across it. Who acts: cows. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clau
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 3, sentence 88

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On the way they arrived on the banks of a river, and as there were no bridges in those days it was necessary to swim across it.

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**Who acts:** cows · **What happens:** arrive, be, swim · **To what, where:** way

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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 (cows), 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:pg3282:36:88
# text = On the way they arrived on the banks of a river, and as there were no bridges in those days it was necessary to swim across it.
1	On	on	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	arrived	arrive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	banks	bank	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	river	river	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
14	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	16	expl	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
17	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	18	det	_	_
18	bridges	bridge	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	those	that	DET	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	21	det	_	_
21	days	day	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obl	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	expl	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	necessary	necessary	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	swim	swim	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	csubj	_	_
27	across	across	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **arrive** | past | cows *= cow* |  |  | the way |  | on the banks of a river | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | cows *= cow* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | necessary *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **swim** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | way |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme across it=Trajectory |

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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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