---
title: Then, as soon as the child saw it, the ball would begin rolling slow… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then, as soon as the child saw it, the ball would begin rolling slowly back to the witch, just keeping a little ahead of the child, so that he always thought that he could catch it the next minute. Who acts: child, ball, Prince. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Bo
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 84

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then, as soon as the child saw it, the ball would begin rolling slowly back to the witch, just keeping a little ahead of the child, so that he always thought that he could catch it the next minute.

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**Who acts:** child, ball, Prince · **What happens:** see, begin, roll, keep, think, catch · **To what, where:** ball, little ahead

<!-- .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 (child, ball, Prince), 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:pg3282:6:84
# text = Then, as soon as the child saw it, the ball would begin rolling slowly back to the witch, just keeping a little ahead of the child, so that he always thought that he could catch it the next minute.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	as	as	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	14	advmod	_	_
5	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	advcl	_	_
9	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
13	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	begin	begin	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
15	rolling	roll	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	xcomp	_	_
16	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
17	back	back	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
18	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	witch	witch	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	just	just	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	keeping	keep	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	conj	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	ahead	ahead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	child	child	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
31	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	35	mark	_	_
32	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	fixed	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	35	advmod	_	_
35	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	39	mark	_	_
37	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	ccomp	_	_
40	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
42	next	next	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	amod	_	_
43	minute	minute	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | the child | ball |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 2 | **begin** | would | the ball |  |  |  | then | soon *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **roll** | gerund | the ball *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **keep** | gerund | the ball *not said here* | a little ahead of the child |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ahead=Theme |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Prince |  |  |  |  | always *property* | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **catch** | could | Prince | ball |  |  | minute |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: 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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