--- title: But while they were busy inspecting the corpse and the vault to see… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: But while they were busy inspecting the corpse and the vault to see what they could miss, I slipped out, and, once away, and still away; but they never had the Black Thief in their power since.’ Who acts: guards, I. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Black Thief and Knight of the --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/8/104/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Red Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/) / [The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/8/) / 104 # The Red Fairy Book, The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen., sentence 104 But while they were busy inspecting the corpse and the vault to see what they could miss, I slipped out, and, once away, and still away; but they never had the Black Thief in their power since.’ **Who acts:** guards, I · **What happens:** be, inspect, see, miss, slip out, not have · **To what, where:** corpse, Black Thief, power · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (guards, I), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg540:8:104 # text = But while they were busy inspecting the corpse and the vault to see what they could miss, I slipped out, and, once away, and still away; but they never had the Black Thief in their power since.’ 1 But but CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 2 while while SCONJ IN _ 5 mark _ _ 3 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 5 nsubj _ _ 4 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 5 cop _ _ 5 busy busy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 20 advcl _ _ 6 inspecting inspect VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 5 advcl _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 corpse corpse NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 11 cc _ _ 10 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 vault vault NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 conj _ _ 12 to to PART TO _ 13 mark _ _ 13 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 6 advcl _ _ 14 what what PRON WP PronType=Int 17 obj _ _ 15 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 16 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 17 aux _ _ 17 miss miss VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 5 punct _ _ 19 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 slipped slip VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 21 out out ADP RP _ 20 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 26 cc _ SpaceAfter=No 24 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 25 once once ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult 26 advmod _ _ 26 away away ADV RB _ 20 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 29 still still ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 30 away away ADV RB _ 20 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 31 ; ; PUNCT : _ 35 punct _ _ 32 but but CCONJ CC _ 35 cc _ _ 33 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 34 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 35 advmod _ _ 35 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 37 Black Black PROPN NNP Number=Sing 38 compound _ _ 38 Thief thief NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obj _ _ 39 in in ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 power power NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 obl _ _ 42 since since ADV RB _ 35 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 20 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 44 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 20 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | guards *= guard* | | | | | busy *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **inspect** | gerund | guards *= guard* *not said here* | the corpse and the vault | | | | | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent corpse=Theme | | 3 | **see** | to-infinitive | guards *= guard* *not said here* | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 4 | **miss** | could | guards *= guard* | | | | | | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer what=Stimulus | | 5 | **slip out** | past | I | | | | | away *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 6 | **not** **have** | past | guards *= guard* | the Black Thief | | guards's power | | since *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent thief=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 103](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/8/103/) - next →: [sentence 105](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/8/105/) - ↑ back to [The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg540/8/)