---
title: It was a long way off, and the road led over mountains and through v… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was a long way off, and the road led over mountains and through valleys; but at last he reached the cave where the Holy Man dwelt, and knocked at the door. Who acts: cave, road, Holy Man. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 9, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 9, sentence 16

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was a long way off, and the road led over mountains and through valleys; but at last he reached the cave where the Holy Man dwelt, and knocked at the door.

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**Who acts:** cave, road, Holy Man · **What happens:** be, lead, reach, dwell, knock · **To what, where:** long way, mountains, cave, last

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cave, road, Holy Man), 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:pg3282:9:16
# text = It was a long way off, and the road led over mountains and through valleys; but at last he reached the cave where the Holy Man dwelt, and knocked at the door.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	off	off	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
11	led	lead	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
12	over	over	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	mountains	mountain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	through	through	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	valleys	valley	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	cave	cave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	29	advmod	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
27	Holy	Holy	PROPN	NNP	_	28	compound	_	_
28	Man	Man	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	dwelt	dwell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	knocked	knock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
33	at	at	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | cave | a long way |  |  |  | off *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **lead** | past | the road |  |  | mountains and valleys |  |  | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent over mountain=Destination |
| 3 | **reach** | past | road | the cave |  | last |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent cave=Theme at last=Asset |
| 4 | **dwell** | past | the Holy Man |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **knock** | past | the road *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at the door | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at door=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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