---
title: This state of things went on for some time, and, though a thief was… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: This state of things went on for some time, and, though a thief was caught now and then and punished, no suspicion ever fell on Hok Lee, he was such a very respectable, hard-working man. Who acts: state, suspicion. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwa
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs, sentence 6

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
This state of things went on for some time, and, though a thief was caught now and then and punished, no suspicion ever fell on Hok Lee, he was such a very respectable, hard-working man.

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**Who acts:** state, suspicion · **What happens:** go on, catch, punish, fall, work, be · **To what, where:** thief, Hok Lee, respectable working man

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Hok Lee and the Dwarfs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (state, suspicion), 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:pg7277:31:6
# text = This state of things went on for some time, and, though a thief was caught now and then and punished, no suspicion ever fell on Hok Lee, he was such a very respectable, hard-working man.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	state	state	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	things	thing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
5	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
9	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	thief	thief	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	parataxis	_	_
18	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advmod	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	18	conj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	punished	punish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	25	det	_	_
25	suspicion	suspicion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
26	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	27	advmod	_	_
27	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	Hok	Hok	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	compound	_	_
30	Lee	Lee	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	42	nsubj	_	_
33	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	cop	_	_
34	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	42	det:predet	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
36	very	very	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	respectable	respectable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
39	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	39	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	working	work	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	42	amod	_	_
42	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go on** | past | this state of things |  |  |  | time |  | vn function-105.2.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **catch** | past · passive |  | a thief |  |  | now |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **punish** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn prosecute-33.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **fall** | past | no suspicion |  |  | Hok Lee | ever |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on lee=Location |
| 5 | **work** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | past | suspicion | such respectable working man |  |  |  |  | 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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