--- title: As they were passing near the precipice they heard a sound of crying… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: As they were passing near the precipice they heard a sound of crying, and on looking over they saw a little green meadow wedged in between two great heaps of snow, and on the meadow lay a baby amongst the flowers. Who acts: crowns, sound. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Sto --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/4/30/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/4/) / 30 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars, sentence 30 As they were passing near the precipice they heard a sound of crying, and on looking over they saw a little green meadow wedged in between two great heaps of snow, and on the meadow lay a baby amongst the flowers. **Who acts:** crowns, sound · **What happens:** pass, hear, cry, look, see, wedge · **To what, where:** precipice, sound, little green meadow, two great heaps, baby, meadow This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (crowns, sound), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg641:4:30 # text = As they were passing near the precipice they heard a sound of crying, and on looking over they saw a little green meadow wedged in between two great heaps of snow, and on the meadow lay a baby amongst the flowers. 1 As as SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 passing pass VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 5 near near ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 6 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 7 precipice precipice NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ _ 8 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 acl:relcl _ _ 10 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 11 sound sound NOUN NN Number=Sing 9 obj _ _ 12 of of SCONJ IN _ 13 mark _ _ 13 crying cry VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 11 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 15 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 16 on on SCONJ IN _ 17 mark _ _ 17 looking look VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ _ 18 over over SCONJ IN _ 20 mark _ _ 19 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 20 nsubj _ _ 20 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 17 ccomp _ _ 21 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 24 det _ _ 22 little little ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 amod _ _ 23 green green ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 24 amod _ _ 24 meadow meadow NOUN NN Number=Sing 20 obj _ _ 25 wedged wedge VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 24 acl _ _ 26 in in ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 27 between between ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 28 two two NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 30 nummod _ _ 29 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 30 amod _ _ 30 heaps heap NOUN NNS Number=Plur 25 obl _ _ 31 of of ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 snow snow NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 38 punct _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 38 cc _ _ 35 on on ADP IN _ 37 case _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 meadow meadow NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obl _ _ 38 lay lie VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 20 conj _ _ 39 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 40 det _ _ 40 baby baby NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 obj _ _ 41 amongst amongst ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 43 det _ _ 43 flowers flower NOUN NNS Number=Plur 38 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 44 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **pass** | past · progressive | crowns *= crown* | | | the precipice | | | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme near precipice=Location | | 2 | **hear** | past | crowns *= crown* | a sound | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer sound=Stimulus | | 3 | **cry** *speech: express* | gerund | a sound *not said here* | | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **look** | gerund | crowns *= crown* *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **see** | past | crowns *= crown* | a little green meadow | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer meadow=Stimulus | | 6 | **wedge** | participle | | a little green meadow *not said here* | | two great heaps of snow | | | vn funnel-9.3-1-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent in heap=Trajectory | | 7 | **lie** | past | crowns *= crown* *not said here* | a baby | | the meadow | | amongst the flowers | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location baby=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/4/29/) - next →: [sentence 31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/4/31/) - ↑ back to [The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/4/)