---
title: At last he fancied that he saw a great light like the sun; and in th… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: At last he fancied that he saw a great light like the sun; and in the midst of the light there stood an old man with black hair, holding an open book in his hand. Who acts: King. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, King Alfred and the Beggar., with its dependency tree and t
---

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# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, King Alfred and the Beggar., sentence 14

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
At last he fancied that he saw a great light like the sun; and in the midst of the light there stood an old man with black hair, holding an open book in his hand.

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**Who acts:** King · **What happens:** fancy, see, stand, hold · **To what, where:** last, great light, old man, midst, open book, hand

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This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, King Alfred and the Beggar.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King), 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:pg18442:4:14
# text = At last he fancied that he saw a great light like the sun; and in the midst of the light there stood an old man with black hair, holding an open book in his hand.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	fancied	fancy	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	like	like	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	midst	midst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
22	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	_
23	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
24	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
27	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
31	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
32	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
33	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	book	book	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
35	in	in	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fancy** | past | King |  |  | last |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V that S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **see** | past | King | a great light |  |  |  | like the sun | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer light=Stimulus |
| 3 | **stand** | past | King *not said here* | a old man |  | the midst; there |  | of the light; with black hair | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent man=Theme in midst=Destination |
| 4 | **hold** | gerund | King *not said here* | a open book |  | King's hand |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent book=Theme in hand=Location |

<!-- .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:** «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 18442 (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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