---
title: We have travelled a long way, we have spoken in the rustle of the wi… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: We have travelled a long way, we have spoken in the rustle of the wind, have whispered in the wood, we have sung in the waters, but now we wish to tell you a story which you know without knowing it, in the speech of men.’ Who acts: We, you, wind. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang,
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Boys With the Golden Stars, sentence 123

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We have travelled a long way, we have spoken in the rustle of the wind, have whispered in the wood, we have sung in the waters, but now we wish to tell you a story which you know without knowing it, in the speech of men.’

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** We, you, wind · **What happens:** travell, speak, whisper, sing, wish, tell · **To what, where:** long way, rustle, wood, waters, story, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Boys With the Golden Stars. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (We, you, wind), 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:pg641:35:123
# text = We have travelled a long way, we have spoken in the rustle of the wind, have whispered in the wood, we have sung in the waters, but now we wish to tell you a story which you know without knowing it, in the speech of men.’
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	travelled	travell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	spoken	speak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	rustle	rustle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	3	parataxis	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
24	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	sung	sing	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	19	conj	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	34	advmod	_	_
33	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	wish	wish	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
37	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	36	iobj	_	_
38	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
39	story	story	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
40	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	42	obj	_	_
41	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
42	know	know	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	acl:relcl	_	_
43	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
44	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	42	advcl	_	_
45	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	in	in	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	speech	speech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
51	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **travell** | present · perfect | We | a long way |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **speak** *speech: other* | present · perfect | we |  |  | the rustle of the wind |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | present · perfect |  |  |  | the wood |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in wood=Location |
| 4 | **sing** *speech: express* | present · perfect | we |  |  | the waters |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in water=Location |
| 5 | **wish** | present | we |  |  |  | now |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 6 | **tell** *speech: assert* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | we *not said here* | a story | you | the speech of men |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent you=Recipient story=Topic |
| 7 | **know** | present | you | a story |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |
| 8 | **know** | gerund | you *not said here* | story |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer it=Stimulus |
| 9 | **rustle** |  | the wind |  |  |  |  |  | nom rustle «event intransitive»: of=agent |
| 10 | **speak** |  |  | men |  |  |  |  | nom speech «communication transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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