---
title: There was a light burning, and the Goblin peeped through the key-hol… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: There was a light burning, and the Goblin peeped through the key-hole and saw that he was reading the torn book that he had bought in the shop. Who acts: light, Goblin. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of eve
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 2, sentence 58

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was a light burning, and the Goblin peeped through the key-hole and saw that he was reading the torn book that he had bought in the shop.

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**Who acts:** light, Goblin · **What happens:** be, burn, peep, see, read, tear · **To what, where:** torn book, shop

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (light, Goblin), 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:pg5615:2:58
# text = There was a light burning, and the Goblin peeped through the key-hole and saw that he was reading the torn book that he had bought in the shop.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
5	burning	burn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	4	acl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	Goblin	Goblin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	peeped	peep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
11	through	through	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	key	key	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	reading	read	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	torn	tear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	amod	_	_
24	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
25	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	aux	_	_
28	bought	buy	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	acl:relcl	_	_
29	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	shop	shop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | a light |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **burn** | gerund | a light *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **peep** | past | the Goblin |  |  |  |  | through the key hole | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent through hole=Theme |
| 4 | **see** | past | the Goblin *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **read** | past · progressive | light | the torn book |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent book=Topic |
| 6 | **tear** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **buy** | past · perfect | light | the torn book *not said here* |  | the shop |  |  | vn accept-77.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent book=Theme |

<!-- .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 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.

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