---
title: But though he sometimes found traces of her, or even messages scratc… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But though he sometimes found traces of her, or even messages scratched on a rock, or cut in the bark of a tree, she herself was nowhere to be found. Who acts: much, princess. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 31, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 31, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But though he sometimes found traces of her, or even messages scratched on a rock, or cut in the bark of a tree, she herself was nowhere to be found.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** much, princess · **What happens:** find, scratch, cut, be · **To what, where:** traces, messages, rock, bark

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (much, princess), 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:pg5615:31:21
# text = But though he sometimes found traces of her, or even messages scratched on a rock, or cut in the bark of a tree, she herself was nowhere to be found.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	5	advmod	_	_
5	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	traces	trace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	even	even	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	messages	message	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	scratched	scratch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	conj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	bark	bark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	27	conj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	nowhere	nowhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
32	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	found	find	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **find** | past | much | traces of princess |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trace=Topic |
| 2 | **scratch** | participle · passive |  | messages |  | a rock |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on rock=Destination |
| 3 | **cut** | participle |  |  |  | the bark of a tree |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **is** | past | princess |  |  |  |  | nowhere *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **find** | to-infinitive · passive | princess *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF» |

<!-- .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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