--- title: The king of Ciccu’s country was watching for them from the top of a… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The king of Ciccu’s country was watching for them from the top of a tower, and when he saw in the distance a cloud of dust, he ran down to the steps so as to be ready to receive them. Who acts: king. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 38, with its dependenc --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/38/88/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Pink Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/) / [The Pink Fairy Book, part 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/38/) / 88 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 38, sentence 88 The king of Ciccu’s country was watching for them from the top of a tower, and when he saw in the distance a cloud of dust, he ran down to the steps so as to be ready to receive them. **Who acts:** king · **What happens:** watch, see, run down, be, receive, cloud · **To what, where:** top, arms, dust 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 (king), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg5615:38:88 # text = The king of Ciccu’s country was watching for them from the top of a tower, and when he saw in the distance a cloud of dust, he ran down to the steps so as to be ready to receive them. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ _ 3 of of ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 4 Ciccu Ciccu PROPN NNP Number=Sing 6 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 5 ’s 's PART POS _ 4 case _ _ 6 country country NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 nmod _ _ 7 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 aux _ _ 8 watching watch VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 9 for for ADP IN _ 10 case _ _ 10 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 obl _ _ 11 from from ADP IN _ 13 case _ _ 12 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 13 det _ _ 13 top top NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obl _ _ 14 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 tower tower NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 21 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 19 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 21 advmod _ _ 20 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 21 nsubj _ _ 21 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 parataxis _ _ 22 in in ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 23 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 24 distance distance NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 obl _ _ 25 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 26 cloud cloud NOUN NN Number=Sing 24 nmod:unmarked _ _ 27 of of ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 dust dust NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 29 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 30 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 nsubj _ _ 31 ran run VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 conj _ _ 32 down down ADV RB _ 31 advmod _ _ 33 to to ADP IN _ 35 case _ _ 34 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 35 det _ _ 35 steps step NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 obl _ _ 36 so so ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 37 as as SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 39 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 40 cop _ _ 40 ready ready ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 31 advcl _ _ 41 to to PART TO _ 42 mark _ _ 42 receive receive VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 40 xcomp _ _ 43 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 42 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **watch** | past · progressive | the king of Ciccu's country | | | the top of a tower | | for arms *= arm* | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.theme NP.location»: agent=Agent for they=Theme | | 2 | **see** | past | king | | | | | in the distance a cloud of dust | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | | 3 | **run down** | past | king | | | | | to the steps *result*; down *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to step=Result | | 4 | **is** | to-infinitive | king *not said here* | | | | | ready *property* | tree rules | | 5 | **receive** | to-infinitive | king *not said here* | arms *= arm* | | | | | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme | | 6 | **cloud** | | | dust | | | | | nom cloud «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 87](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/38/87/) - next →: [sentence 89](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/38/89/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 38](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/38/)