---
title: But scarcely was he seated firmly on the shell, when the turtle prop… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But scarcely was he seated firmly on the shell, when the turtle proposed that they should not return to the shore at once, but go under the sea, and look at some of the wonders that lay hidden there. Who acts: turtle, Uraschimataro, wonders. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pi
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 3, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But scarcely was he seated firmly on the shell, when the turtle proposed that they should not return to the shore at once, but go under the sea, and look at some of the wonders that lay hidden there.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** turtle, Uraschimataro, wonders · **What happens:** seat, propose, not return, go, look, lay · **To what, where:** friend, shell, sea

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (turtle, Uraschimataro, wonders), 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:pg5615:3:71
# text = But scarcely was he seated firmly on the shell, when the turtle proposed that they should not return to the shore at once, but go under the sea, and look at some of the wonders that lay hidden there.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	scarcely	scarcely	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	seated	seat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	firmly	firmly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	14	advmod	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	turtle	turtle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	proposed	propose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
16	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
17	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	19	advmod	_	_
19	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	ccomp	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	conj	_	_
28	under	under	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
33	look	look	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	27	parataxis	_	_
34	at	at	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	33	obl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	wonders	wonder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	nmod	_	_
39	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
40	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	38	acl:relcl	_	_
41	hidden	hide	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	xcomp	_	_
42	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	41	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seat** | past · passive |  | friend |  | the shell |  | firmly, scarcely *property* | vn fit-54.3 «NP.location V NP»: subject=Value |
| 2 | **propose** | past | the turtle |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **return** | should | Uraschimataro |  |  |  |  | to the shore *result* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to shore=Result |
| 4 | **go** | infinitive | the turtle *not said here* |  |  | the sea |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme under sea=Location |
| 5 | **look** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | at some | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at some=Theme |
| 6 | **lay** | present | the wonders |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **hide** | participle | the wonders *not said here* |  |  | there |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «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 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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