---
title: Once, as he was making one of his journeys, Jenik chanced to cross a… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Once, as he was making one of his journeys, Jenik chanced to cross a meadow where some shepherds were just about to kill a dog. Who acts: father, Jenik, shepherds. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Enchanted Watch, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Enchanted Watch, sentence 13

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Once, as he was making one of his journeys, Jenik chanced to cross a meadow where some shepherds were just about to kill a dog.

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**Who acts:** father, Jenik, shepherds · **What happens:** make, chance, cross, kill, journey · **To what, where:** one, meadow, dog

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Enchanted Watch. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (father, Jenik, shepherds), 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:pg7277:8:13
# text = Once, as he was making one of his journeys, Jenik chanced to cross a meadow where some shepherds were just about to kill a dog.
1	Once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	13	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	making	make	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	obj	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	journeys	journey	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
12	Jenik	Jenik	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	chanced	chance	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	meadow	meadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	25	advmod	_	_
19	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	20	det	_	_
20	shepherds	shepherd	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nsubj	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
22	just	just	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	_
23	about	about	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	acl:relcl	_	_
26	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **make** | past · progressive | father | one of father's journeys |  |  |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Product |
| 2 | **chance** | past | Jenik |  |  |  |  | once *property* | vn risk-94-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **cross** | to-infinitive | Jenik *not said here* | a meadow |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meadow=Patient |
| 4 | **kill** | past | some shepherds | a dog |  |  |  | about *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Theme |
| 5 | **journey** |  | father |  |  |  |  |  | nom journey «act transitive»: poss=agent |

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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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