---
title: When she wanted a child she just flung her ball in the direction of… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When she wanted a child she just flung her ball in the direction of the child’s home, and however far off it might be, the ball was sure to reach it. Who acts: wife, ball. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 83

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When she wanted a child she just flung her ball in the direction of the child’s home, and however far off it might be, the ball was sure to reach it.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** wife, ball · **What happens:** want, fling, be, reach · **To what, where:** child, ball, direction

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wife, ball), 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:pg3282:6:83
# text = When she wanted a child she just flung her ball in the direction of the child’s home, and however far off it might be, the ball was sure to reach it.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	wanted	want	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	just	just	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
9	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	’s	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	_
18	home	home	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
21	however	however	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	31	advmod	_	_
23	off	off	ADP	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj	_	_
30	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	cop	_	_
31	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	xcomp	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **want** | past | wife | a child |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot child=Theme |
| 2 | **fling** | past | wife | wife's ball |  | the direction of the child's home |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent ball=Theme in direction=Destination |
| 3 | **is** | past | the ball |  |  |  |  | far, sure *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **reach** | to-infinitive | the ball *not said here* | ball |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent it=Theme |

<!-- .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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