--- title: There was once a little boy whose name was Lars, and because he was… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: There was once a little boy whose name was Lars, and because he was so little he was called Little Lasse; he was a brave little man, for he sailed round the world in a pea-shell boat. Who acts: little boy, name, boy, man. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, par --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/14/34/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Lilac Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/) / [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/14/) / 34 # The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 34 There was once a little boy whose name was Lars, and because he was so little he was called Little Lasse; he was a brave little man, for he sailed round the world in a pea-shell boat. **Who acts:** little boy, name, boy, man, Lars · **What happens:** be, call, sail, name · **To what, where:** Lars, little, brave little man, shell boat · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little boy, name, boy, man), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3454:14:34 # text = There was once a little boy whose name was Lars, and because he was so little he was called Little Lasse; he was a brave little man, for he sailed round the world in a pea-shell boat. 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 2 expl _ _ 2 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 2 advmod _ _ 4 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nsubj _ _ 7 whose whose PRON WP$ Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel 8 nmod:poss _ _ 8 name name NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ _ 9 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 cop _ _ 10 Lars Lar PROPN NNPS Number=Plur 6 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 20 punct _ _ 12 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 13 because because SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 14 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 15 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 cop _ _ 16 so so ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ _ 17 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 nsubj:pass _ _ 18 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 19 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 aux:pass _ _ 20 called call VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 10 acl _ _ 21 Little Little ADJ NNP Degree=Pos 22 amod _ _ 22 Lasse Lasse PROPN NNP Number=Sing 20 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 23 ; ; PUNCT : _ 29 punct _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj _ _ 25 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 cop _ _ 26 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 27 brave brave ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 28 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 30 , , PUNCT , _ 33 punct _ _ 31 for for SCONJ IN _ 33 mark _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 nsubj _ _ 33 sailed sail VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 acl:relcl _ _ 34 round round ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 world world NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ _ 37 in in ADP IN _ 42 case _ _ 38 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 39 pea pea NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 40 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 39 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 41 shell shell NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 compound _ _ 42 boat boat NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **be** | past | a little boy | | | there | | once *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **is a** | past | Lars's name | Lars | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **is** | past | boy | | | | | little *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **call** | past · passive | | little | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient | | 5 | **is a** | past | boy | a brave little man | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **sail** | past | man | a brave little man *not said here* | | a shell boat | | round the world | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent man=Theme round world=Trajectory | | 7 | **name** | | Lars | | | | | | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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. **Text:** «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/14/33/) - next →: [sentence 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/14/35/) - ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/14/)