---
title: When the old man saw him he said he had not seen a single man for th… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When the old man saw him he said he had not seen a single man for three hundred years, and was very much surprised to see anyone come to him now. Who acts: old man, Irishman, anyone. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Blue Mountains, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Blue Mountains, sentence 117

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When the old man saw him he said he had not seen a single man for three hundred years, and was very much surprised to see anyone come to him now.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** old man, Irishman, anyone · **What happens:** see, say, not see, be, come · **To what, where:** Irishman, single man, anyone · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Blue Mountains. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, Irishman, anyone), 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:pg640:45:117
# text = When the old man saw him he said he had not seen a single man for three hundred years, and was very much surprised to see anyone come to him now.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	12	advmod	_	_
12	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	ccomp	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
14	single	single	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
16	for	for	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	18	compound	_	_
18	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nummod	_	_
19	years	year	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
23	very	very	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	much	much	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	surprised	surprised	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	parataxis	_	_
26	to	to	PART	TO	_	27	mark	_	_
27	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
28	anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	27	obj	_	_
29	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	_
32	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	29	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | the old man | Irishman |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | Irishman |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **not** **see** | past · perfect | Irishman | a single man |  |  | year |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | surprised *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | anyone |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **come** | infinitive | anyone *not said here* |  | Irishman |  | now |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to he=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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