---
title: It was time they did, for the captain was just going to land his car… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It was time they did, for the captain was just going to land his cargo of cats, when a deputation of mice brought him the precious bronze ring. Who acts: boat, mice, captain, deputation. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Bronze Ring, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Bronze Ring, sentence 220

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It was time they did, for the captain was just going to land his cargo of cats, when a deputation of mice brought him the precious bronze ring.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** boat, mice, captain, deputation · **What happens:** be, do, go, land, bring · **To what, where:** time, cargo, precious bronze ring, captain

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Bronze Ring. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boat, mice, captain, deputation), 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:pg503:2:220
# text = It was time they did, for the captain was just going to land his cargo of cats, when a deputation of mice brought him the precious bronze ring.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
7	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	just	just	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	conj	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	land	land	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	cargo	cargo	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	deputation	deputation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nmod	_	_
25	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	acl:relcl	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
28	precious	precious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
29	bronze	bronze	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	ring	ring	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | boat | time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **do** | past | mice *= mouse* | time *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent time=Eventuality |
| 3 | **go** | past · progressive | the captain |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **land** | to-infinitive | the captain *not said here* | captain's cargo of cats |  |  |  |  | vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V ADVP»: agent=Theme cargo=Destination |
| 5 | **bring** | past | a deputation of mice | the precious bronze ring | captain |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP NP»: agent=Agent he=Destination ring=Theme |

<!-- .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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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