---
title: The darkness of night was coming on, and when the father and mother… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The darkness of night was coming on, and when the father and mother saw such a splendid and stately stranger walk in, they were so startled that they both began to bow and curtsey. Who acts: darkness, father, stranger. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Soria Moria Castle, with its d
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Soria Moria Castle, sentence 79

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The darkness of night was coming on, and when the father and mother saw such a splendid and stately stranger walk in, they were so startled that they both began to bow and curtsey.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** darkness, father, stranger · **What happens:** come on, see, walk in, startle, begin, bow · **To what, where:** father

<!-- .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 (darkness, father, stranger), 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:pg540:6:79
# text = The darkness of night was coming on, and when the father and mother saw such a splendid and stately stranger walk in, they were so startled that they both began to bow and curtsey.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	coming	come	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	_
15	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
16	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	18	det:predet	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	splendid	splendid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	xcomp	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
20	stately	stately	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	stranger	strange	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	22	nsubj	_	_
22	walk	walk	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	18	parataxis	_	_
23	in	in	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux:pass	_	_
27	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	startled	startle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	22	parataxis	_	_
29	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
30	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	32	nsubj	_	_
32	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	advcl	_	_
33	to	to	PART	TO	_	34	mark	_	_
34	bow	bow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	xcomp	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	curtsey	curtsey	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come on** | past · progressive | the darkness of night |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | past | the father and mother |  |  |  |  | splendid *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **walk in** | infinitive | stranger |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **startle** | past · passive |  | father |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 5 | **begin** | past | father |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 6 | **bow** | to-infinitive | father *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **curtsey** | infinitive | father *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn curtsey-40.3.3 «NP V»: 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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