---
title: There was no bridge or ferryboat to be seen anywhere, and it was imp… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: There was no bridge or ferryboat to be seen anywhere, and it was impossible to get over to the other side, for the boldest swimmer would not have dared to brave the fierce current and roaring waters. Who acts: bridge. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Musicians, with its
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Three Musicians, sentence 72

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
There was no bridge or ferryboat to be seen anywhere, and it was impossible to get over to the other side, for the boldest swimmer would not have dared to brave the fierce current and roaring waters.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bridge · **What happens:** be, see, get, not dare, roar · **To what, where:** boldest swimmer, waters

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Musicians. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bridge), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg7277:55:72
# text = There was no bridge or ferryboat to be seen anywhere, and it was impossible to get over to the other side, for the boldest swimmer would not have dared to brave the fierce current and roaring waters.
1	There	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	2	expl	_	_
2	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	bridge	bridge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nsubj	_	_
5	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	ferryboat	ferryboat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
8	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	aux:pass	_	_
9	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl	_	_
10	anywhere	anywhere	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	expl	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
15	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	conj	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	csubj	_	_
18	over	over	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
21	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	amod	_	_
22	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
24	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	boldest	bold	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	27	amod	_	_
27	swimmer	swimmer	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
30	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	aux	_	_
31	dared	dare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	advcl	_	_
32	to	to	PART	TO	_	33	mark	_	_
33	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	xcomp	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
35	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	current	current	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	roaring	roar	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	conj	_	_
39	waters	water	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **be** | past | no bridge or ferryboat |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | to-infinitive · passive | no bridge or ferryboat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | anywhere *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V» |
| 3 | **is** | past | no bridge or ferryboat *not said here* |  |  |  |  | impossible *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **get** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | over *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **not** **dare** | would · perfect · passive |  | the boldest swimmer |  |  |  | brave *property* | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Recipient |
| 6 | **roar** | gerund |  | waters |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location water=Theme |

<!-- .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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