---
title: He started back thinking he was dreaming, and put up his hand; but,… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He started back thinking he was dreaming, and put up his hand; but, alas! the dreadful thing was true. Who acts: mind, dreadful thing. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 12, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 12, sentence 10

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He started back thinking he was dreaming, and put up his hand; but, alas! the dreadful thing was true.

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**Who acts:** mind, dreadful thing · **What happens:** start back, think, dream, put up, be · **To what, where:** hand · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (mind, dreadful thing), 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:pg2435:12:10
# text = He started back thinking he was dreaming, and put up his hand; but, alas! the dreadful thing was true.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	back	back	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	2	xcomp	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
7	dreaming	dream	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	2	conj	_	_
11	up	up	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	_
12	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	13	nmod:poss	_	_
13	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	23	punct	_	_
15	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
17	alas	alas	INTJ	UH	_	23	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	23	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
20	dreadful	dreadful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	_
21	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **start back** | past | mind |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | gerund | mind *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **dream** | past · progressive | mind |  |  |  |  |  | vn cognize-85 «NP V PP.topic»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **put up** | participle | mind *not said here* | mind's hand |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent hand=Goal |
| 5 | **is** | past | the dreadful thing |  |  |  |  | true *property* | tree rules |

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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 Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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