---
title: That is why for several years they sent in search of them to differe… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: That is why for several years they sent in search of them to different countries, but no one ever came on the trace of the poor little ones. Who acts: That, parents, one. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Ratcatcher, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Ratcatcher, sentence 93

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That is why for several years they sent in search of them to different countries, but no one ever came on the trace of the poor little ones.

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**Who acts:** That, parents, one · **What happens:** be, send, come, search · **To what, where:** search, trace, children

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Ratcatcher. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (That, parents, one), 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:pg540:32:93
# text = That is why for several years they sent in search of them to different countries, but no one ever came on the trace of the poor little ones.
1	That	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	3	nsubj	_	_
2	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	cop	_	_
3	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
4	for	for	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	several	several	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	sent	send	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl:relcl	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	search	search	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nmod	_	_
13	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	countries	country	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	19	det	_	_
19	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
20	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	21	advmod	_	_
21	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
22	on	on	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	trace	trace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
27	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
28	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	ones	one	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | present | That |  |  |  |  | why *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **send** | past | parents *= parent* |  |  | search of children | year | to different countries | vn confine-92-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent in search=Destination |
| 3 | **come** | past | no one |  |  | the trace of the poor little ones | ever |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on trace=Location |
| 4 | **search** |  |  | children *= child* |  |  |  |  | nom search «act transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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