---
title: He was floating sadly along, not paying any heed to where he was goi… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was floating sadly along, not paying any heed to where he was going, when he saw in the distance a beautiful, bright sort of bird coming towards him. Who acts: Souci, beautiful bright sort. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 31, with its dependency tree 
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 31, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was floating sadly along, not paying any heed to where he was going, when he saw in the distance a beautiful, bright sort of bird coming towards him.

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**Who acts:** Souci, beautiful bright sort · **What happens:** float, not pay, go, see, come, sort · **To what, where:** heed, bird

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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 (Souci, beautiful bright sort), 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:pg5615:31:27
# text = He was floating sadly along, not paying any heed to where he was going, when he saw in the distance a beautiful, bright sort of bird coming towards him.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	floating	float	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	sadly	sadly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	along	along	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	paying	pay	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	conj	_	_
9	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
10	heed	heed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	8	obl	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
17	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	19	advmod	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	distance	distance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
24	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	amod	_	_
27	sort	sort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nmod	_	_
30	coming	come	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	27	acl	_	_
31	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **float** | past · progressive | Souci |  |  |  |  | along *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **not** **pay** | gerund | Souci *not said here* | any heed |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heed=Asset |
| 3 | **go** | past · progressive | Souci |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **see** | past | Souci |  |  |  |  | in the distance  a beautiful bright sort of bird | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **come** | gerund | a beautiful bright sort of bird *not said here* |  |  |  |  | towards Souci | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme towards he=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **sort** |  |  | bird |  |  |  |  | nom sort «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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