---
title: So on they flew, scarcely feeling the ground as they went, till they… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So on they flew, scarcely feeling the ground as they went, till they flung themselves on the ground before the holes scooped out of the earth where they had all been born. Who acts: tops, holes. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, with its dependency tr
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 99

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So on they flew, scarcely feeling the ground as they went, till they flung themselves on the ground before the holes scooped out of the earth where they had all been born.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** tops, holes · **What happens:** fly, feel, go, fling, scoop, bear · **To what, where:** ground, tops, earth

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (tops, holes), 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:pg3282:8:99
# text = So on they flew, scarcely feeling the ground as they went, till they flung themselves on the ground before the holes scooped out of the earth where they had all been born.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	feeling	feel	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	conj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
17	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	16	obj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
21	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	holes	hole	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
24	scooped	scoop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	advcl	_	_
25	out	out	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
29	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	34	advmod	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj:pass	_	_
31	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
32	all	all	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
33	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	34	aux:pass	_	_
34	born	bear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fly** | past | tops *= top* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **feel** | gerund | tops *= top* *not said here* | the ground |  |  |  | scarcely *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ground=Theme |
| 3 | **go** | past | tops *= top* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **fling** | past | tops *= top* | tops *= top* |  | the ground |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent themselves=Theme on ground=Destination |
| 5 | **scoop** | past | the holes |  |  | the earth |  |  | vn funnel-9.3 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent out earth=Trajectory |
| 6 | **bear** | past · perfect · passive |  | tops *= top* |  |  |  | all *property* | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .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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