--- title: Now it so happened that the clerk took in a newspaper, and one day h… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Now it so happened that the clerk took in a newspaper, and one day he chanced to read in its columns of a new merchant who had settled in a town at some distance, and whose name was ‘Peter Bull.’ Who acts: it, clerk, Peter, name. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Boo --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/40/) [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 Pink Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/) / [The Pink Fairy Book, part 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/) / 40 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 40 Now it so happened that the clerk took in a newspaper, and one day he chanced to read in its columns of a new merchant who had settled in a town at some distance, and whose name was ‘Peter Bull.’ **Who acts:** it, clerk, Peter, name, Peter Bull · **What happens:** happen, take, chance, read, settle, be · **To what, where:** newspaper, columns, new merchant, town, Peter Bull This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, clerk, Peter, name), 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:pg5615:14:40 # text = Now it so happened that the clerk took in a newspaper, and one day he chanced to read in its columns of a new merchant who had settled in a town at some distance, and whose name was ‘Peter Bull.’ 1 Now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 4 advmod _ _ 2 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 so so ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 4 happened happen VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 that that SCONJ IN _ 8 mark _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 clerk clerk NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 8 took take VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 advcl _ _ 9 in in ADP IN _ 11 case _ _ 10 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 newspaper newspaper NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 12 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 14 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 15 nummod _ _ 15 day day NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 obl:unmarked _ _ 16 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 17 chanced chance VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 conj _ _ 18 to to PART TO _ 19 mark _ _ 19 read read VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 17 xcomp _ _ 20 in in ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 its its PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 22 nmod:poss _ _ 22 columns column NOUN NNS Number=Plur 19 obl _ _ 23 of of ADP IN _ 26 case _ _ 24 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 25 new new ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 merchant merchant NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nmod _ _ 27 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 29 nsubj:pass _ _ 28 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ _ 29 settled settle VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 26 acl:relcl _ _ 30 in in ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 31 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 town town NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ _ 33 at at ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 some some DET DT PronType=Ind 35 det _ _ 35 distance distance NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 36 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 37 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 38 whose whose PRON WP$ Poss=Yes|PronType=Rel 39 nmod:poss _ _ 39 name name NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 nsubj _ _ 40 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 cop _ _ 41 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 43 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 42 Peter Peter PROPN NNP Number=Sing 43 compound _ _ 43 Bull Bull PROPN NNP Number=Sing 4 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 43 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 45 ’ ' PUNCT '' _ 43 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **happen** | past | it | | | | now | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 2 | **take** | past | the clerk | | | a newspaper | | | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent in newspaper=Location | | 3 | **chance** | past | Peter | | | | day | | vn risk-94-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme | | 4 | **read** | to-infinitive | Peter *not said here* | | | newspaper's columns of a new merchant | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **settle** | past · perfect · passive | | a new merchant | | a town | | at some distance | vn odge-46-1 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Theme in town=Location | | 6 | **is a** | past | Peter Bull's name | Peter Bull | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **name** | | Peter Bull | | | | | | nom name «communication transitive»: poss=agent | 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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/39/) - next →: [sentence 41](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/41/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/14/)