--- title: Presently as she stood trembling in the dark, wondering if help woul… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics description: Presently as she stood trembling in the dark, wondering if help would come, she heard something calling in the distance, calling, calling, and then dying away with a sob, till the marshes were full of this pitiful crying sound; then she heard steps floundering along, squishing in the mud and slippin --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/24/66/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [More English Fairy Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/) / [More English Fairy Tales, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/24/) / 66 # More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 10, sentence 66 Presently as she stood trembling in the dark, wondering if help would come, she heard something calling in the distance, calling, calling, and then dying away with a sob, till the marshes were full of this pitiful crying sound; then she heard steps floundering along, squishing in the mud and slipping on the tufts, and through the darkness she saw a white face with great feared eyes. **Who acts:** goodwife, help, marshes, steps · **What happens:** stand, tremble, wonder, come, hear, call · **To what, where:** dark, something, steps, mud, tufts, white face · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (goodwife, help, marshes, steps), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg14241:24:66 # text = Presently as she stood trembling in the dark, wondering if help would come, she heard something calling in the distance, calling, calling, and then dying away with a sob, till the marshes were full of this pitiful crying sound; then she heard steps floundering along, squishing in the mud and slipping on the tufts, and through the darkness she saw a white face with great feared eyes. 1 Presently presently ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 2 as as SCONJ IN _ 4 mark _ _ 3 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 stood stand VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 trembling tremble VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 4 xcomp _ _ 6 in in ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 dark dark NOUN NN Number=Sing 5 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 10 punct _ _ 10 wondering wonder VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 5 conj _ _ 11 if if SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ _ 12 help help NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 13 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 14 aux _ _ 14 come come VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 ccomp _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 16 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 17 nsubj _ _ 17 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 18 something something PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Ind 17 obj _ _ 19 calling call VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 18 acl _ _ 20 in in ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 distance distance NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 24 calling call VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 17 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 26 calling call VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 24 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 27 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 28 and and CCONJ CC _ 30 cc _ _ 29 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 30 advmod _ _ 30 dying die VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 24 conj _ _ 31 away away ADV RB _ 30 advmod _ _ 32 with with ADP IN _ 34 case _ _ 33 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 34 det _ _ 34 sob sob NOUN NN Number=Sing 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 36 till till SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 37 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 38 marshes marsh NOUN NNS Number=Plur 40 nsubj _ _ 39 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 40 cop _ _ 40 full full ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 conj _ _ 41 of of ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 42 this this PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 45 nsubj _ _ 43 pitiful pitiful ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 45 amod _ _ 44 crying cry VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 45 amod _ _ 45 sound sound NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 ; ; PUNCT : _ 49 punct _ _ 47 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 49 advmod _ _ 48 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 49 nsubj _ _ 49 heard hear VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 50 steps step NOUN NNS Number=Plur 49 obj _ _ 51 floundering flounder VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 50 acl _ _ 52 along along ADV RB _ 51 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 53 , , PUNCT , _ 54 punct _ _ 54 squishing squish VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 51 conj _ _ 55 in in ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 56 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 57 det _ _ 57 mud mud NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 obl _ _ 58 and and CCONJ CC _ 59 cc _ _ 59 slipping slip VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 54 conj _ _ 60 on on ADP IN _ 62 case _ _ 61 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 62 det _ _ 62 tufts tuft NOUN NNS Number=Plur 59 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 63 , , PUNCT , _ 69 punct _ _ 64 and and CCONJ CC _ 69 cc _ _ 65 through through ADP IN _ 67 case _ _ 66 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 67 det _ _ 67 darkness darkness NOUN NN Number=Sing 69 obl _ _ 68 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 69 nsubj _ _ 69 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 49 conj _ _ 70 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 72 det _ _ 71 white white ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 72 amod _ _ 72 face face NOUN NN Number=Sing 69 obj _ _ 73 with with ADP IN _ 76 case _ _ 74 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 76 amod _ _ 75 feared fear VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 76 amod _ _ 76 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 69 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 77 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **stand** | past | goodwife | | | | | presently *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 2 | **tremble** | gerund | goodwife *not said here* | | | the dark | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in dark=Location | | 3 | **wonder** *speech: ask* | gerund | goodwife *not said here* | | | | | | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 4 | **come** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | help | | | | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **hear** | past | goodwife | something | | | | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer something=Stimulus | | 6 | **call** | gerund | | | | | | in the distance | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **call** | gerund | goodwife *not said here* | | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **call** | gerund | goodwife *not said here* | | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 9 | **die away** | gerund | goodwife *not said here* | | | | then | with a sob; away *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 10 | **is** | past | the marshes | | | | | of pitiful crying sound; full *property* | tree rules | | 11 | **cry** *speech: express* | gerund | | | | | | | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 12 | **hear** | past | goodwife | steps | | | then | | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer step=Stimulus | | 13 | **flounder** | gerund | steps *not said here* | | | | | along *property* | tree rules | | 14 | **squish** | gerund | steps *not said here* | | | the mud | | | vn funnel-9.3-1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent in mud=Trajectory | | 15 | **slip** | gerund | steps *not said here* | | | the tufts | | | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute | | 16 | **see** | past | goodwife | a white face | | the darkness | | with great feared eyes | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer face=Stimulus | | 17 | **fear** | participle | | | | | | | vn marvel-31.3 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer | 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. **Text:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 65](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/24/65/) - next →: [sentence 67](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/24/67/) - ↑ back to [More English Fairy Tales, part 10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg14241/24/)