---
title: Some months passed in this way, and then the father suddenly fell il… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Some months passed in this way, and then the father suddenly fell ill, and knew that the time had come when he must die. Who acts: months, father, time. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 37, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 37, sentence 15

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Some months passed in this way, and then the father suddenly fell ill, and knew that the time had come when he must die.

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**Who acts:** months, father, time · **What happens:** pass, fall, know, come, die · **To what, where:** way · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 37. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (months, father, time), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg5615:37:15
# text = Some months passed in this way, and then the father suddenly fell ill, and knew that the time had come when he must die.
1	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	det	_	_
2	months	month	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	in	in	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	det	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
9	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	13	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
14	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	come	come	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	ccomp	_	_
23	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	26	advmod	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	die	die	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past | some months |  |  | this way |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme in way=Location |
| 2 | **fall** | past | the father |  |  |  | then | ill, suddenly *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **know** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 4 | **come** | past · perfect | the time |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **die** | must | father |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |

<!-- .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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