--- title: He fought now like a human flail, and every sweep of that terrible s… — Peter Pan · tree and pragmatics description: He fought now like a human flail, and every sweep of that terrible sword would have severed in twain any man or boy who obstructed it; but Peter fluttered round him as if the very wind it made blew him out of the danger zone. Who acts: To’t, boy, Peter, wind. A sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barri --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/16/168/) [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/) / [Peter Pan](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/) / [Chapter XV. “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME”](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/16/) / 168 # Peter Pan, Chapter XV. “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME”, sentence 168 He fought now like a human flail, and every sweep of that terrible sword would have severed in twain any man or boy who obstructed it; but Peter fluttered round him as if the very wind it made blew him out of the danger zone. **Who acts:** To’t, boy, Peter, wind · **What happens:** fight, sever, obstruct, flutter, make, blow · **To what, where:** sweep, twain, To’t, wind, danger zone This is a sentence of «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Chapter XV. “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME”. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (To’t, boy, Peter, wind), 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:pg16:16:168 # text = He fought now like a human flail, and every sweep of that terrible sword would have severed in twain any man or boy who obstructed it; but Peter fluttered round him as if the very wind it made blew him out of the danger zone. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 2 nsubj _ _ 2 fought fight VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 3 now now ADV RB PronType=Dem 2 advmod _ _ 4 like like ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 7 det _ _ 6 human human ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 7 amod _ _ 7 flail flail NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 8 , , PUNCT , _ 18 punct _ _ 9 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 10 every every DET DT PronType=Tot 11 det _ _ 11 sweep sweep NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 nsubj:pass _ _ 12 of of ADP IN _ 15 case _ _ 13 that that DET DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 15 det _ _ 14 terrible terrible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 15 amod _ _ 15 sword sword NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 nmod _ _ 16 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 18 aux _ _ 17 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 18 aux _ _ 18 severed sever VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 parataxis _ _ 19 in in ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 20 twain twain NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obl _ _ 21 any any DET DT PronType=Ind 22 det _ _ 22 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 18 obj _ _ 23 or or CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 24 boy boy NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 conj _ _ 25 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 26 nsubj _ _ 26 obstructed obstruct VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 acl:relcl _ _ 27 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 26 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ; ; PUNCT : _ 31 punct _ _ 29 but but CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 30 Peter Peter PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 nsubj _ _ 31 fluttered flutter VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 2 conj _ _ 32 round round ADV RB _ 33 advmod _ _ 33 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 31 obj _ _ 34 as as SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 35 if if SCONJ IN _ 41 mark _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 38 det _ _ 37 very very ADV RB _ 38 advmod _ _ 38 wind wind NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 nsubj _ _ 39 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 40 made make VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 acl:relcl _ _ 41 blew blow VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 advcl _ _ 42 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 41 obj _ _ 43 out out ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 44 of of ADP IN _ 47 case _ _ 45 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 47 det _ _ 46 danger danger NOUN NN Number=Sing 47 compound _ _ 47 zone zone NOUN NN Number=Sing 41 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 48 . . PUNCT . _ 2 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **fight** | past | To’t *= to't* | | | | now | like a human flail | vn battle-36.4-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 2 | **sever** | would · perfect · passive | | every sweep of that terrible sword | | twain | | | tree rules | | 3 | **obstruct** | past | boy | sweep | | | | | vn discourage-64.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Causer it=Eventuality | | 4 | **flutter** | past | Peter | To’t *= to't* | | | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location he=Theme | | 5 | **make** | past | wind | the wind *not said here* | | | | | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.material V NP»: agent=Material wind=Product | | 6 | **blow** | past | the wind | To’t *= to't* | | the danger zone | | | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent he=Patient | 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:** «Peter Pan» by J. M. Barrie, Project Gutenberg book 16 (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 167](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/16/167/) - next →: [sentence 169](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/16/169/) - ↑ back to [Chapter XV. “HOOK OR ME THIS TIME”](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg16/16/)