---
title: His real name was Michael, but he was always called the Star Gazer,… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: His real name was Michael, but he was always called the Star Gazer, because when he drove his cows over the commons to seek for pasture, he went along with his head in the air, gaping at nothing. Who acts: real name, boy. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Twelve Dancing Princess
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His real name was Michael, but he was always called the Star Gazer, because when he drove his cows over the commons to seek for pasture, he went along with his head in the air, gaping at nothing.

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**Who acts:** real name, boy · **What happens:** be, call, drive, seek, go along, gape · **To what, where:** Michael, boy, cows, commons, air · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (real name, boy), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg540:2:3
# text = His real name was Michael, but he was always called the Star Gazer, because when he drove his cows over the commons to seek for pasture, he went along with his head in the air, gaping at nothing.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
2	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	Michael	Michael	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux:pass	_	_
10	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	11	advmod	_	_
11	called	call	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Star	Star	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	xcomp	_	_
14	Gazer	Gazer	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	flat	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	because	because	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	drove	drive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	cows	cow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obj	_	_
22	over	over	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	commons	common	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
25	to	to	PART	TO	_	26	mark	_	_
26	seek	seek	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	advcl	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	pasture	pasture	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	acl:relcl	_	_
32	along	along	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
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	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
40	gaping	gape	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	advcl	_	_
41	at	at	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | boy's real name | Michael |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **call** | past · passive |  | boy |  |  |  | always *property* | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: subject=Recipient |
| 3 | **drive** | past | boy | boy's cows |  | the commons |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent cow=Theme over common=Trajectory |
| 4 | **seek** | to-infinitive | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for pasture | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V PP.theme PP.location»: agent=Agent for pasture=Theme |
| 5 | **go along** | past | boy | Michael *not said here* |  | the air |  | with boy's head; along *property* | vn meander-47.7 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location michael=Theme |
| 6 | **gape** | gerund | boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at nothing | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at nothing=Theme |
| 7 | **name** |  | boy |  |  |  |  |  | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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