---
title: Then the lad found that he had lost his pocket-handkerchief, and wou… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the lad found that he had lost his pocket-handkerchief, and would go out in the boat after it; but no sooner had he got into the boat than it began to move off with him so quickly that the water foamed all round about, and all that the lad did to keep the boat back with the oars was done to no 
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Three Princesses of Whiteland, sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the lad found that he had lost his pocket-handkerchief, and would go out in the boat after it; but no sooner had he got into the boat than it began to move off with him so quickly that the water foamed all round about, and all that the lad did to keep the boat back with the oars was done to no purpose, for it went on and on the whole night through, and at last he came to a white strand that lay far, far away.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** lad, handkerchief, water, that · **What happens:** find, lose, go out, have, get, begin · **To what, where:** pocket handkerchief, boat, oars, last · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Princesses of Whiteland. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lad, handkerchief, water, that), 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:pg540:26:10
# text = Then the lad found that he had lost his pocket-handkerchief, and would go out in the boat after it; but no sooner had he got into the boat than it began to move off with him so quickly that the water foamed all round about, and all that the lad did to keep the boat back with the oars was done to no purpose, for it went on and on the whole night through, and at last he came to a white strand that lay far, far away.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	lost	lose	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	4	ccomp	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
10	pocket	pocket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	handkerchief	handkerchief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
17	out	out	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
21	after	after	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
25	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	26	det	_	_
26	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	27	advmod	_	_
27	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	ccomp	_	_
30	into	into	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
33	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
36	to	to	PART	TO	_	37	mark	_	_
37	move	move	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	35	xcomp	_	_
38	off	off	ADP	RP	_	37	compound:prt	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	_
41	so	so	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
43	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	46	mark	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	nsubj	_	_
46	foamed	foam	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	advcl	_	_
47	all	all	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	round	round	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
49	about	about	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
52	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	56	det:predet	_	_
53	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	56	mark	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	lad	lad	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	nsubj	_	_
56	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
57	to	to	PART	TO	_	58	mark	_	_
58	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	56	xcomp	_	_
59	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
60	boat	boat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	obj	_	_
61	back	back	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
62	with	with	SCONJ	IN	_	66	mark	_	_
63	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	64	det	_	_
64	oars	oar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	nsubj:pass	_	_
65	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	66	aux:pass	_	_
66	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	58	advcl	_	_
67	to	to	ADP	IN	_	69	case	_	_
68	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	69	det	_	_
69	purpose	purpose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	66	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
70	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	73	punct	_	_
71	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	73	mark	_	_
72	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	73	nsubj	_	_
73	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	56	parataxis	_	_
74	on	on	ADV	RB	_	73	advmod	_	_
75	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	79	cc	_	_
76	on	on	ADP	IN	_	79	case	_	_
77	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	79	det	_	_
78	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	79	amod	_	_
79	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	73	obl	_	_
80	through	through	ADV	RB	_	73	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
81	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	86	punct	_	_
82	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	86	cc	_	_
83	at	at	ADP	IN	_	84	case	_	_
84	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	86	obl	_	_
85	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	86	nsubj	_	_
86	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
87	to	to	ADP	IN	_	90	case	_	_
88	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	90	det	_	_
89	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	90	amod	_	_
90	strand	strand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	92	obl	_	_
91	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	92	nsubj	_	_
92	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	86	conj	_	_
93	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	95	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
94	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	93	punct	_	_
95	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	96	advmod	_	_
96	away	away	ADV	RB	_	92	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
97	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | the lad |  |  |  | then |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 2 | **lose** | past · perfect | lad | lad's pocket handkerchief |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent handkerchief=Eventuality |
| 3 | **go out** | would | the lad *not said here* |  |  | the boat | after boat | out *property* | vn interact-36.6 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **have** | past | the lad *not said here* |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **get** | past | lad |  |  | the boat |  |  | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme into boat=Destination |
| 6 | **begin** | past | handkerchief |  |  |  |  | quickly *property* | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **move off** | to-infinitive | handkerchief *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with lad | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **foam** | past | the water |  |  |  |  | about, round *property* | vn entity\_specific\_modes\_being-47.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **do** | past | the lad |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **keep back** | to-infinitive | the lad *not said here* | the boat |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent boat=Theme |
| 11 | **do** | past · passive |  | the oars |  |  |  | to no purpose | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Eventuality |
| 12 | **go on** | past | water |  |  |  | night | through *property* | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 13 | **come** | past | lad |  |  | last |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at last=Location |
| 14 | **lay** | present | that |  |  |  |  | to a white strand; away *property* | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=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.

<!-- /div -->

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