---
title: The nursery-maid and the little boy came down at once to look for hi… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The nursery-maid and the little boy came down at once to look for him, but, though they were so near him that they almost trod on him, they did not notice him. Who acts: nursery maid, maid. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Steadfast Tin-soldier, with its dependency tree and 
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Steadfast Tin-soldier, sentence 30

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The nursery-maid and the little boy came down at once to look for him, but, though they were so near him that they almost trod on him, they did not notice him.

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**Who acts:** nursery maid, maid · **What happens:** come down, look, be, tread, not notice · **To what, where:** boy

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Steadfast Tin-soldier. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (nursery maid, maid), 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:pg640:50:30
# text = The nursery-maid and the little boy came down at once to look for him, but, though they were so near him that they almost trod on him, they did not notice him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	nursery	nursery	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	maid	maid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
9	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	down	down	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	9	obl	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	advcl	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
21	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
23	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	near	near	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	parataxis	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	trod	tread	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
30	on	on	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
33	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
34	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
35	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	36	advmod	_	_
36	notice	notice	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
37	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come down** | past | the nursery maid and the little boy |  |  |  |  | down *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at once=Location |
| 2 | **look** | to-infinitive | the nursery maid and the little boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for boy | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for he=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | maid |  |  |  |  | near boy | tree rules |
| 4 | **tread** | past | maid |  |  |  |  | on boy; almost *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on he=Trajectory |
| 5 | **not** **notice** | past · do-support | maid | boy |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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