---
title: Time after time he walked round it, trying to find some knots, howev… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Time after time he walked round it, trying to find some knots, however small, where he could put his feet, but the bark was quite smooth, and he soon saw that if he was to reach the top at all, it must be by climbing up with his knees like a sailor. Who acts: sun, bark. A sentence of «The Lilac Fair
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 29, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Time after time he walked round it, trying to find some knots, however small, where he could put his feet, but the bark was quite smooth, and he soon saw that if he was to reach the top at all, it must be by climbing up with his knees like a sailor.

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**Who acts:** sun, bark · **What happens:** walk, try, find, put, be, see · **To what, where:** tree, knots, feet, all

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 29. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sun, bark), 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:pg3454:29:17
# text = Time after time he walked round it, trying to find some knots, however small, where he could put his feet, but the bark was quite smooth, and he soon saw that if he was to reach the top at all, it must be by climbing up with his knees like a sailor.
1	Time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl:unmarked	_	_
2	after	after	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	round	round	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	advcl	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	13	det	_	_
13	knots	knot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	however	however	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	21	advmod	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	parataxis	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
29	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	smooth	smooth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
34	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	35	advmod	_	_
35	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
37	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
38	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	nsubj	_	_
39	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	cop	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	reach	reach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	ccomp	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obj	_	_
44	at	at	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	41	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	51	nsubj	_	_
48	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	51	aux	_	_
49	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	51	cop	_	_
50	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	51	mark	_	_
51	climbing	climb	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	35	advcl	_	_
52	up	up	ADP	RP	_	51	compound:prt	_	_
53	with	with	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obl	_	_
56	like	like	ADP	IN	_	58	case	_	_
57	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	sailor	sailor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **walk** | past | sun |  |  | tree | time |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme round it=Trajectory |
| 2 | **try** | gerund | sun *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **find** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | sun *not said here* | some knots |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knot=Topic |
| 4 | **put** | could | sun | sun's feet |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent foot=Goal |
| 5 | **is** | past | the bark |  |  |  |  | smooth *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **see** | past | sun |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 7 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | sun |  |  | all |  | reach *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **is** | must | bark |  |  |  |  | with sun's knees like a sailor; climb *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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 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.

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