---
title: After they had ridden some way, they saw a swarm of bees lying on th… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: After they had ridden some way, they saw a swarm of bees lying on the ground, so hungry and weak that they were unable to fly. Who acts: bread, bees. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 38, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 38, sentence 71

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
After they had ridden some way, they saw a swarm of bees lying on the ground, so hungry and weak that they were unable to fly.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bread, bees · **What happens:** ride, see, lie, be, fly · **To what, where:** way, swarm, ground

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bread, bees), 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:pg5615:38:71
# text = After they had ridden some way, they saw a swarm of bees lying on the ground, so hungry and weak that they were unable to fly.
1	After	after	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
4	ridden	ride	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
5	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	6	det	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	swarm	swarm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	bees	bee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	nmod	_	_
14	lying	lie	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	13	acl	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
20	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	conj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	conj	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
26	unable	unable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	advcl	_	_
27	to	to	PART	TO	_	28	mark	_	_
28	fly	fly	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **ride** | past · perfect | bread | some way |  |  |  |  | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | past | bread | a swarm of bees |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer swarm=Stimulus |
| 3 | **lie** | gerund | bees *not said here* |  |  | the ground |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on ground=Location |
| 4 | **is** | past | bread |  |  |  |  | unable *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **fly** | to-infinitive | bread *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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