---
title: Paul was not fond of boulders, but he took a wooden knife and cut on… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Paul was not fond of boulders, but he took a wooden knife and cut one in two, then he snatched up both halves in his hands and threw them with all his strength at the dragon, so that two out of the six heads were smashed in. Who acts: Paul. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The 
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 31, sentence 72

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Paul was not fond of boulders, but he took a wooden knife and cut one in two, then he snatched up both halves in his hands and threw them with all his strength at the dragon, so that two out of the six heads were smashed in.

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**Who acts:** Paul · **What happens:** not be, take, cut, snatch up, throw, smash in · **To what, where:** wooden knife, one, two, halves, hands, boulders

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 31. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Paul), 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:pg2435:31:72
# text = Paul was not fond of boulders, but he took a wooden knife and cut one in two, then he snatched up both halves in his hands and threw them with all his strength at the dragon, so that two out of the six heads were smashed in.
1	Paul	Paul	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
3	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	boulders	boulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	wooden	wooden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
16	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	obj	_	_
17	in	in	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
20	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	22	advmod	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	snatched	snatch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
23	up	up	ADP	RP	_	22	compound:prt	_	_
24	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	25	det	_	_
25	halves	half	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obj	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
30	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	_
32	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	35	det:predet	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
36	at	at	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	40	fixed	_	_
42	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	obl	_	_
43	out	out	ADP	IN	_	49	mark	_	_
44	of	of	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	six	six	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	47	nummod	_	_
47	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	_
48	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	aux:pass	_	_
49	smashed	smash	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	42	acl	_	_
50	in	in	ADP	RP	_	49	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past | Paul |  |  |  |  | of boulders; fond *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **take** | past | Paul | a wooden knife |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knife=Theme |
| 3 | **cut** | past | Paul *not said here* | one |  | two |  | so two | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset one=Product |
| 4 | **snatch up** | past | Paul | both halves |  | Paul's hands | then |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent half=Theme |
| 5 | **throw** | past | Paul *not said here* | boulders *= boulder* |  |  |  | with Paul's strength; at the dragon | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent they=Theme at dragon=Destination |
| 6 | **smash in** | past · passive |  |  |  |  |  | of the six heads | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: of head=Initial\_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:** «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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