---
title: When he got to the spot he saw that a raven had perched on the carca… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When he got to the spot he saw that a raven had perched on the carcase and was pecking at it. Who acts: servant. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Riddle, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Riddle, sentence 19

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When he got to the spot he saw that a raven had perched on the carcase and was pecking at it.

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**Who acts:** servant · **What happens:** get, see, perch, peck · **To what, where:** raven, carcase · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Riddle. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (servant), 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:pg7277:47:19
# text = When he got to the spot he saw that a raven had perched on the carcase and was pecking at it.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
4	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	spot	spot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	raven	raven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
12	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
13	perched	perch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	ccomp	_	_
14	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	carcase	carcase	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
19	pecking	peck	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	conj	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | servant |  |  |  |  | to the spot *result* | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to spot=Result |
| 2 | **see** | past | servant |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **perch** | past · perfect · passive |  | a raven |  | the carcase |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme on carcase=Destination |
| 4 | **peck** | past · progressive |  |  |  |  |  | at raven | vn chew-39.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at it=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 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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