---
title: They would creep up to him softly on the grass, as he was stooping t… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They would creep up to him softly on the grass, as he was stooping to fill his pail, and just as they stretched out their hands to seize him, he vanished before their eyes. Who acts: thieves, man. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20, with its depend
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 64

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They would creep up to him softly on the grass, as he was stooping to fill his pail, and just as they stretched out their hands to seize him, he vanished before their eyes.

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**Who acts:** thieves, man · **What happens:** creep up, stoop, fill, stretch out, seize, vanish · **To what, where:** man, grass, pail, hands

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thieves, man), 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:pg2435:20:64
# text = They would creep up to him softly on the grass, as he was stooping to fill his pail, and just as they stretched out their hands to seize him, he vanished before their eyes.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	creep	creep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	RP	_	3	compound:prt	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	obl	_	_
7	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
8	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	stooping	stoop	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	3	advcl	_	_
16	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
17	fill	fill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	xcomp	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	pail	pail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	just	just	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
23	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	stretched	stretch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
26	out	out	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
27	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obj	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	advcl	_	_
31	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	vanished	vanish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
35	before	before	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **creep up** | would | thieves *= thief* |  | man | the grass |  | softly *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme to he=Destination |
| 2 | **stoop** | past · progressive | man |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **fill** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | man's pail |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent pail=Patient |
| 4 | **stretch out** | past | thieves *= thief* | thieves's hands |  |  |  |  | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |
| 5 | **seize** | to-infinitive | thieves *= thief* *not said here* | man |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 6 | **vanish** | past | man |  |  |  | before thieves's eyes |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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:** «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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