---
title: If they heard the twang of an arrow or saw the glitter of a spear, e… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If they heard the twang of an arrow or saw the glitter of a spear, ever so far off, they lay very still, and were not to be tempted from their hiding-place, if their hunger was ever so great, or the game ever so delicious. Who acts: beasts, hunger. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew La
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/32/19/)

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32, sentence 19

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If they heard the twang of an arrow or saw the glitter of a spear, ever so far off, they lay very still, and were not to be tempted from their hiding-place, if their hunger was ever so great, or the game ever so delicious.

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**Who acts:** beasts, hunger · **What happens:** hear, see, lay, not tempt, be, twang · **To what, where:** twang, glitter, hiding place, arrow

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (beasts, hunger), 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:pg2435:32:19
# text = If they heard the twang of an arrow or saw the glitter of a spear, ever so far off, they lay very still, and were not to be tempted from their hiding-place, if their hunger was ever so great, or the game ever so delicious.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	twang	twang	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	arrow	arrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nmod	_	_
9	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	glitter	glitter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	20	advmod	_	_
18	so	so	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	20	advmod	_	_
20	off	off	ADV	RB	_	10	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	lay	lay	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	advcl	_	_
24	very	very	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	still	still	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
28	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux:pass	_	_
29	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
31	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	aux:pass	_	_
32	tempted	tempt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	parataxis	_	_
33	from	from	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
34	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
35	hiding	hiding	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	35	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
39	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
40	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	hunger	hunger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
42	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	45	cop	_	_
43	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	45	advmod	_	_
44	so	so	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
47	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	49	cc	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	game	game	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	conj	_	_
50	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	52	advmod	_	_
51	so	so	ADV	RB	_	52	advmod	_	_
52	delicious	delicious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past | beasts *= beast* | the twang of a arrow |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer twang=Stimulus |
| 2 | **see** | past | beasts *= beast* *not said here* | the glitter of a spear |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer glitter=Stimulus |
| 3 | **lay** | present | beasts *= beast* |  |  |  | still |  | vn create-26.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **not** **tempt** | past · passive |  |  |  | beasts's hiding place |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle» |
| 5 | **is** | past | beasts's hunger |  |  |  | ever | great *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **twang** |  |  | a arrow |  |  |  |  | nom twang «event transitive»: of=patient |
| 7 | **hunger** |  | beasts *= beast* |  |  |  |  |  | nom hunger «state intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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