---
title: These appeared to be assembling at the exact spot where they were pr… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: These appeared to be assembling at the exact spot where they were preparing to run ashore, and what was their surprise to find they were nothing more nor less than large and beautiful spaniels, some mounted as sentries, others grouped in companies and regiments, all eagerly watching their disembarka
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Heart of Ice, part 2, sentence 3

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
These appeared to be assembling at the exact spot where they were preparing to run ashore, and what was their surprise to find they were nothing more nor less than large and beautiful spaniels, some mounted as sentries, others grouped in companies and regiments, all eagerly watching their disembarkation.

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**Who acts:** These, forms, others, all · **What happens:** appear, assemble, prepare, run, be, find · **To what, where:** exact spot, surprise, nothing, some, companies, disembarkation · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (These, forms, others, all), 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:pg7277:15:3
# text = These appeared to be assembling at the exact spot where they were preparing to run ashore, and what was their surprise to find they were nothing more nor less than large and beautiful spaniels, some mounted as sentries, others grouped in companies and regiments, all eagerly watching their disembarkation.
1	These	this	PRON	DT	Number=Plur|PronType=Dem	2	nsubj	_	_
2	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
4	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	assembling	assemble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	exact	exact	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
10	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	13	advmod	_	_
11	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	preparing	prepare	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	acl:relcl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	ashore	ashore	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	csubj	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
27	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	24	ccomp	_	_
28	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	27	amod	_	_
29	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	30	cc	_	_
30	less	less	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	28	conj	_	_
31	than	than	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
32	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
34	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	conj	_	_
35	spaniels	spaniel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	38	nsubj:pass	_	_
38	mounted	mount	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	conj	_	_
39	as	as	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	sentries	sentry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
42	others	other	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	nsubj	_	_
43	grouped	group	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
44	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	companies	company	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	regiments	regiment	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
49	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	51	nsubj	_	_
50	eagerly	eagerly	ADV	RB	_	51	advmod	_	_
51	watching	watch	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	43	advcl	_	_
52	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	53	nmod:poss	_	_
53	disembarkation	disembarkation	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **appear** | past | These |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **assemble** | to-infinitive · progressive | These *not said here* |  |  | the exact spot |  |  | vn herd-47.5.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **prepare** | past · progressive | forms *= form* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **run** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | forms *= form* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | ashore *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** | past |  | forms's surprise |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **find** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **is a** | past | forms *= form* | nothing |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **mount** | participle · passive |  | some |  |  |  | as sentries | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 9 | **group** | past | others |  |  |  |  | in companies and regiments *goal* | vn classify-29.10 «NP V NP PP.goal»: agent=Agent in company=Goal |
| 10 | **watch** | gerund | all | forms's disembarkation |  |  |  | eagerly *property* | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent disembarkation=Theme |
| 11 | **disembark** |  | forms *= form* |  |  |  |  |  | nom disembarkation «act intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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