---
title: He was in this state when, one morning, he happened to be passing a… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He was in this state when, one morning, he happened to be passing a fine palace; and, as the sun was shining bright and warm, he sat down on the steps and tried to shake off some of the dust which he had picked up on the road. Who acts: Don, sun. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, T
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 39, sentence 26

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He was in this state when, one morning, he happened to be passing a fine palace; and, as the sun was shining bright and warm, he sat down on the steps and tried to shake off some of the dust which he had picked up on the road.

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**Who acts:** Don, sun · **What happens:** be, happen, pass, shine, sit down, try · **To what, where:** state, fine palace, some, dust, road

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 39. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Don, sun), 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:pg5615:39:26
# text = He was in this state when, one morning, he happened to be passing a fine palace; and, as the sun was shining bright and warm, he sat down on the steps and tried to shake off some of the dust which he had picked up on the road.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	in	in	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
5	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
9	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
14	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	aux	_	_
15	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	palace	palace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	shining	shine	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	32	advcl	_	_
27	bright	bright	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	xcomp	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	warm	warm	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
32	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
33	down	down	ADP	RP	_	32	compound:prt	_	_
34	on	on	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	steps	step	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obl	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
39	to	to	PART	TO	_	40	mark	_	_
40	shake	shake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	xcomp	_	_
41	off	off	ADP	RP	_	40	compound:prt	_	_
42	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	40	obj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	_
46	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	49	nsubj:pass	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj:pass	_	_
48	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux	_	_
49	picked	pick	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	45	acl:relcl	_	_
50	up	up	ADP	RP	_	49	compound:prt	_	_
51	on	on	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	road	road	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Don |  |  | this state |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **happen** | past | Don |  |  |  | morning |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **pass** | to-infinitive · progressive | Don *not said here* | a fine palace |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme palace=Trajectory |
| 4 | **shine** | past · progressive | the sun |  |  |  |  | bright *property* | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **sit down** | past | Don |  |  |  |  | on the steps | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on step=Location |
| 6 | **try** | past | Don *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **shake off** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | Don *not said here* | some |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent some=Patient |
| 8 | **pick up** | past · perfect · passive |  | the dust |  | the road |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Topic |

<!-- .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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