---
title: The worst of it was that the shadows of the tress were becoming so l… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The worst of it was that the shadows of the tress were becoming so long in the evening sunlight, the birds were beginning to fly home, and the day was closing in. Who acts: shadows, birds, day. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 24, with its dependency tr
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/24/144/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/24/) / 144

# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 24, sentence 144

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The worst of it was that the shadows of the tress were becoming so long in the evening sunlight, the birds were beginning to fly home, and the day was closing in.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** shadows, birds, day · **What happens:** become, begin, fly, close in, shadow · **To what, where:** worst, evening sunlight, tress

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (shadows, birds, day), 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:pg3454:24:144
# text = The worst of it was that the shadows of the tress were becoming so long in the evening sunlight, the birds were beginning to fly home, and the day was closing in.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	worst	bad	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	13	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	obl	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
6	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	tress	tree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	nmod	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	becoming	become	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
14	so	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
15	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	evening	evening	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	sunlight	sunlight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	beginning	begin	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	24	xcomp	_	_
27	home	home	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	closing	close	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **become** | past · progressive | the shadows of the tress | the worst |  |  |  | in the evening sunlight *result*; long *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in sunlight=Result |
| 2 | **begin** | past · progressive | the birds |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **fly** | to-infinitive | the birds *not said here* |  |  |  |  | home *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **close in** | past · progressive | the day |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **shadow** |  |  | the tress |  |  |  |  | nom shadow «state transitive»: of=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 143](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/24/143/)
- next →: [sentence 145](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/24/145/)
- ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 24](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/24/)