---
title: Besides, there was always the chance that the children might have be… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Besides, there was always the chance that the children might have been eaten by wolves, of which large herds roamed about in winter. Who acts: wolves. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 87

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Besides, there was always the chance that the children might have been eaten by wolves, of which large herds roamed about in winter.

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**Who acts:** wolves · **What happens:** be, eat, roam · **To what, where:** chance, children, large herds

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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 (wolves), 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:pg3282:6:87
# text = Besides, there was always the chance that the children might have been eaten by wolves, of which large herds roamed about in winter.
1	Besides	besides	INTJ	UH	_	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	4	expl	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	7	advmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	children	child	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
12	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux	_	_
13	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	acl	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	21	det	_	_
20	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	herds	herd	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	14	conj	_	_
22	roamed	roam	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	acl	_	_
23	about	about	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	winter	winter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past |  | the chance |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **eat** | might · perfect · passive | wolves | the children |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent subject=Patient |
| 3 | **roam** | participle |  | which large herds *not said here* |  |  | winter |  | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V»: agent=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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