--- title: The distance was greater than he thought, and it was dark before he… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The distance was greater than he thought, and it was dark before he reached the foot of the mountain; indeed, he could not have found the road at all had it not been for the bright light, which shone like the moon on his path. Who acts: distance, man, bright light. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/23/46/) [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 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/23/) / 46 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 23, sentence 46 The distance was greater than he thought, and it was dark before he reached the foot of the mountain; indeed, he could not have found the road at all had it not been for the bright light, which shone like the moon on his path. **Who acts:** distance, man, bright light · **What happens:** be, think, reach, not find, have, not be · **To what, where:** foot, road, path · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (distance, man, bright light), 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:pg5615:23:46 # text = The distance was greater than he thought, and it was dark before he reached the foot of the mountain; indeed, he could not have found the road at all had it not been for the bright light, which shone like the moon on his path. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 distance distance NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 4 greater great ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 7 advmod _ _ 5 than than SCONJ IN _ 7 mark _ _ 6 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 7 nsubj _ _ 7 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 12 cc _ _ 10 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 11 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 cop _ _ 12 dark dark ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 ccomp _ _ 13 before before SCONJ IN _ 15 mark _ _ 14 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 15 nsubj _ _ 15 reached reach VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 advcl _ _ 16 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 17 det _ _ 17 foot foot NOUN NN Number=Sing 15 obj _ _ 18 of of ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 mountain mountain NOUN NN Number=Sing 17 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 21 ; ; PUNCT : _ 28 punct _ _ 22 indeed indeed ADV RB _ 28 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 24 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nsubj _ _ 25 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 28 aux _ _ 26 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 28 advmod _ _ 27 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 28 aux _ _ 28 found find VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 7 conj _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 road road NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 obj _ _ 31 at at ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 all all DET DT PronType=Tot 33 advmod _ _ 33 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 28 advcl _ _ 34 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 33 obj _ _ 35 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 40 advmod _ _ 36 been be AUX VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 40 cop _ _ 37 for for ADP IN _ 40 case _ _ 38 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 39 bright bright ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 amod _ _ 40 light light NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 41 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 42 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 43 nsubj _ _ 43 shone shine VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 parataxis _ _ 44 like like ADP IN _ 46 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 46 det _ _ 46 moon moon NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ _ 47 on on ADP IN _ 49 case _ _ 48 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 49 nmod:poss _ _ 49 path path NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 50 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | the distance | | | | | great *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | man | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 3 | **is** | past | distance | | | | | dark *property* | tree rules | | 4 | **reach** | past | man | the foot of the mountain | | | | | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent foot=Theme | | 5 | **not** **find** | could · perfect | man | the road | | | | indeed *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent road=Topic | | 6 | **have** | past | man *not said here* | road | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient | | 7 | **not** **is** | participle | | | | | | for the bright light | tree rules | | 8 | **shine** | past | the bright light | | | man's path | | like the moon | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on path=Location | 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 45](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/23/45/) - next →: [sentence 47](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/23/47/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/23/)