---
title: His eyes were of no use to him here, for he could not have stared te… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: His eyes were of no use to him here, for he could not have stared ten wild boars in the face at once; so he kept on playing, and the wild boars danced very slowly, as if in a minuet, then by degrees he played faster and faster till they could hardly twist and turn quickly enough, and ended by all fa
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 3, sentence 98

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His eyes were of no use to him here, for he could not have stared ten wild boars in the face at once; so he kept on playing, and the wild boars danced very slowly, as if in a minuet, then by degrees he played faster and faster till they could hardly twist and turn quickly enough, and ended by all falling over each other in a heap, quite exhausted and out of breath.

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**Who acts:** eyes, shepherd, wild boars, boars · **What happens:** be, not stare, keep, play, dance, twist · **To what, where:** shepherd, ten wild boars, face, each

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eyes, shepherd, wild boars, boars), 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:pg2435:3:98
# text = His eyes were of no use to him here, for he could not have stared ten wild boars in the face at once; so he kept on playing, and the wild boars danced very slowly, as if in a minuet, then by degrees he played faster and faster till they could hardly twist and turn quickly enough, and ended by all falling over each other in a heap, quite exhausted and out of breath.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
3	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	6	det	_	_
6	use	use	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nmod	_	_
9	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
11	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
13	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	16	advmod	_	_
15	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	aux	_	_
16	stared	stare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	parataxis	_	_
17	ten	ten	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	19	nummod	_	_
18	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	boars	boar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	16	obj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	so	so	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
29	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
30	playing	play	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	28	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	boars	boar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	nsubj	_	_
36	danced	dance	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
37	very	very	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
38	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	as	as	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
41	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	44	mark	_	_
42	in	in	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	minuet	minuet	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
46	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	50	advmod	_	_
47	by	by	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	degrees	degree	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	50	obl	_	_
49	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
50	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	44	conj	_	_
51	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	50	advmod	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	faster	fast	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	51	conj	_	_
54	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
55	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
56	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
57	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
58	twist	twist	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	_
59	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	60	cc	_	_
60	turn	turn	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	conj	_	_
61	quickly	quickly	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	_
62	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	60	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	65	punct	_	_
64	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	65	cc	_	_
65	ended	end	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	conj	_	_
66	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	68	mark	_	_
67	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	68	det	_	_
68	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	65	advcl	_	_
69	over	over	ADP	IN	_	70	case	_	_
70	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	68	obl	_	_
71	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	70	fixed	_	_
72	in	in	ADP	IN	_	74	case	_	_
73	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	74	det	_	_
74	heap	heap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	68	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
75	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	77	punct	_	_
76	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	77	advmod	_	_
77	exhausted	exhaust	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	65	parataxis	_	_
78	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	81	cc	_	_
79	out	out	ADP	IN	_	81	case	_	_
80	of	of	ADP	IN	_	81	case	_	_
81	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	77	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
82	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | shepherd's eyes |  | shepherd | here |  | of no use | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **stare** | could · perfect | shepherd | ten wild boars |  | the face |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **keep** | past | shepherd |  |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **play** | gerund | shepherd *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **dance** | past | the wild boars |  |  |  |  | as a minuet; slowly *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **play** | past | shepherd |  |  |  | then | by degrees; fast *property* | vn performance-26.7-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **twist** | could | boars *= boar* |  |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **turn** | infinitive | boars *= boar* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | enough, quickly *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP.theme V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **end** | participle | shepherd *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 10 | **fall** | gerund | shepherd *not said here* |  |  | each |  | in a heap | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme over each=Location |
| 11 | **exhaust** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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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