---
title: ‘What can that be?’ asked Petru, when he saw a long, long way off, a… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘What can that be?’ asked Petru, when he saw a long, long way off, at the very end of the heath, something resembling a house. Who acts: that, Petru. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3, sentence 7

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‘What can that be?’ asked Petru, when he saw a long, long way off, at the very end of the heath, something resembling a house.

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**Who acts:** that, Petru · **What happens:** be, ask, see, resemble · **To what, where:** Petru, end, house · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (that, Petru), 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:pg641:21:7
# text = ‘What can that be?’ asked Petru, when he saw a long, long way off, at the very end of the heath, something resembling a house.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
3	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	5	punct	_	_
8	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	Petru	Petru	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	13	advmod	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
15	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
17	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl:unmarked	_	_
19	off	off	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	very	very	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
25	of	of	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	heath	heath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	27	appos	_	_
30	resembling	resemble	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	29	acl	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **can** | can | that |  |  |  |  |  | vn representation-110.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot what=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past |  |  | Petru |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent petru=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 3 | **see** | past | Petru |  |  |  | at the end of the heath | off *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 4 | **resemble** | gerund |  | a house |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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