---
title: As they neared the coast they wondered if this could be another unin… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: As they neared the coast they wondered if this could be another uninhabited land, for no human beings could be distinguished, and yet that something was stirring became evident, for in the dust-clouds that moved near the ground small dark forms were dimly visible. Who acts: seas, coast, this, human 
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Heart of Ice, part 2, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As they neared the coast they wondered if this could be another uninhabited land, for no human beings could be distinguished, and yet that something was stirring became evident, for in the dust-clouds that moved near the ground small dark forms were dimly visible.

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**Who acts:** seas, coast, this, human beings, something, dust clouds · **What happens:** near, wonder, be, stir, become, move · **To what, where:** uninhabited land, ground

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Heart of Ice, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (seas, coast, this, human beings), 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:pg7277:15:2
# text = As they neared the coast they wondered if this could be another uninhabited land, for no human beings could be distinguished, and yet that something was stirring became evident, for in the dust-clouds that moved near the ground small dark forms were dimly visible.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	neared	near	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	coast	coast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	wondered	wonder	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	ccomp	_	_
8	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
9	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	14	nsubj	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
11	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	cop	_	_
12	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	14	det	_	_
13	uninhabited	uninhabited	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	land	land	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
16	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
17	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	19	det	_	_
18	human	human	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	beings	being	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	cop	_	_
22	distinguished	distinguished	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
25	yet	yet	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
27	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	30	nsubj	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	stirring	stir	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	27	acl	_	_
30	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
31	evident	evident	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
34	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
36	dust	dust	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	36	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	clouds	cloud	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	_
39	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
40	moved	move	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	acl:relcl	_	_
41	near	near	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	_
44	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
45	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	forms	form	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nsubj	_	_
47	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	cop	_	_
48	dimly	dimly	ADV	RB	_	49	advmod	_	_
49	visible	visible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **near** | past | seas *= sea* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | past | the coast |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | this | another uninhabited land |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | could | no human beings |  |  |  |  | distinguished *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **stir** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **become** | past | something |  |  |  | yet | for the dust clouds; evident *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |
| 7 | **move** | past | the dust clouds |  |  | the ground |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme near ground=Trajectory |
| 8 | **is** | past | small dark forms |  |  |  |  | dimly, visible *property* | 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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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