---
title: And besides all this there had once or twice been seen a little old… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: And besides all this there had once or twice been seen a little old man with a long beard creeping out of the forest, carrying a sack bigger than himself. Who acts: long beard. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, A Tale of the Tontlawald, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, A Tale of the Tontlawald, sentence 7

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And besides all this there had once or twice been seen a little old man with a long beard creeping out of the forest, carrying a sack bigger than himself.

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**Who acts:** long beard · **What happens:** beside, have, see, creep out, carry · **To what, where:** this, little old man, forest, sack

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, A Tale of the Tontlawald. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (long beard), 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:pg641:2:7
# text = And besides all this there had once or twice been seen a little old man with a long beard creeping out of the forest, carrying a sack bigger than himself.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	2	cc	_	_
2	besides	beside	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	4	det:predet	_	_
4	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	obj	_	_
5	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	2	advmod	_	_
6	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	ccomp	_	_
7	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	6	advmod	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
9	twice	twice	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	11	advmod	_	_
10	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	11	aux:pass	_	_
11	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
16	with	with	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	beard	beard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nmod	_	_
20	creeping	creep	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	19	acl	_	_
21	out	out	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	carrying	carry	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	11	advcl	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	sack	sack	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	bigger	big	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	28	amod	_	_
30	than	than	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **beside** | present |  | this |  | there |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | past |  |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **see** | participle · passive |  | a little old man |  |  |  | with a long beard; twice *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: man=Stimulus |
| 4 | **creep out** | gerund | a long beard *not said here* | the forest |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location forest=Theme |
| 5 | **carry** | gerund |  | a sack |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sack=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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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