---
title: Very near the water there was a pretty green bank, and there the Pri… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Very near the water there was a pretty green bank, and there the Princesses said they would sit down and while away an hour, for they thought that it would be pleasant to sit and look out over the water, they said. Who acts: pretty green bank, Princesses, Heavens, it. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Bo
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Soria Moria Castle, sentence 111

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Very near the water there was a pretty green bank, and there the Princesses said they would sit down and while away an hour, for they thought that it would be pleasant to sit and look out over the water, they said.

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**Who acts:** pretty green bank, Princesses, Heavens, it · **What happens:** be, say, sit down, while away, think, sit · **To what, where:** water · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Soria Moria Castle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (pretty green bank, Princesses, Heavens, it), 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:pg540:6:111
# text = Very near the water there was a pretty green bank, and there the Princesses said they would sit down and while away an hour, for they thought that it would be pleasant to sit and look out over the water, they said.
1	Very	very	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	near	near	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
5	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	6	expl	_	_
6	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
8	pretty	pretty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	16	expl	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	Princesses	princess	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	nsubj	_	_
16	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
18	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
20	down	down	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	while	while	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
23	away	away	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
24	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	hour	hour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
31	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	cop	_	_
34	pleasant	pleasant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	ccomp	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	sit	sit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	conj	_	_
39	out	out	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
40	over	over	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
44	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
45	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a pretty green bank |  |  | the water; there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme near water=Location |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the Princesses |  |  | there |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **sit down** | would | Heavens *= heaven* |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **while away** | present | Heavens *= heaven* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Heavens *= heaven* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is** | would | it |  |  |  |  | pleasant *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **sit** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **look out** | infinitive |  |  |  | the water |  | out *property* | vn caring-75.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 9 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Heavens *= heaven* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: 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.

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