---
title: Now it happened one day, while they were sailing on the high seas, t… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now it happened one day, while they were sailing on the high seas, that Trusty John, sitting on the forepart of the ship, fiddling away to himself, observed three ravens in the air flying toward him. Who acts: it, heart, Trusty, air. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Trusty John, w
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Trusty John, sentence 62

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now it happened one day, while they were sailing on the high seas, that Trusty John, sitting on the forepart of the ship, fiddling away to himself, observed three ravens in the air flying toward him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** it, heart, Trusty, air · **What happens:** happen, sail, sit, fiddle away, observe, fly · **To what, where:** high seas, forepart, Trusty, three ravens, air

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Trusty John. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, heart, Trusty, air), 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:pg503:41:62
# text = Now it happened one day, while they were sailing on the high seas, that Trusty John, sitting on the forepart of the ship, fiddling away to himself, observed three ravens in the air flying toward him.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
5	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	sailing	sail	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
13	high	high	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	seas	sea	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
17	Trusty	Trusty	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	nsubj	_	_
18	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
20	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	forepart	forepart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	ship	ship	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	fiddling	fiddle	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	20	advcl	_	_
29	away	away	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
33	observed	observe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
34	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	nummod	_	_
35	ravens	raven	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
39	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	38	acl	_	_
40	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
41	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | it |  |  |  | now; day |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **sail** | past · progressive | heart |  |  | the high seas |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP.agent V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **sit** | gerund | Trusty |  |  | the forepart of the ship |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on forepart=Location |
| 4 | **fiddle away** | gerund | Trusty *not said here* |  | Trusty |  |  | away *property* | vn trifle-105.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **observe** | past |  | three ravens |  | the air |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent raven=Topic |
| 6 | **fly** | gerund | the air *not said here* |  |  |  |  | toward Trusty | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme toward he=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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