---
title: As he spoke, he started for the house, looking back from time to tim… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: As he spoke, he started for the house, looking back from time to time to make sure that Maria had not run away. Who acts: king, Maria. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 38, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 38, sentence 64

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As he spoke, he started for the house, looking back from time to time to make sure that Maria had not run away.

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**Who acts:** king, Maria · **What happens:** speak, start, look back, make, not run away · **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 38. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, Maria), 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:pg2435:38:64
# text = As he spoke, he started for the house, looking back from time to time to make sure that Maria had not run away.
1	As	as	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
5	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
6	started	start	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	for	for	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	house	house	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
12	back	back	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
15	to	to	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	make	make	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	acl	_	_
19	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	Maria	Maria	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	run	run	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	19	ccomp	_	_
25	away	away	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | king |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **start** | past | king |  |  |  |  | for the house | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 3 | **look back** | gerund | king *not said here* |  |  |  | time |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **make** | to-infinitive | king *not said here* |  |  |  |  | sure *property* | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset |
| 5 | **not** **run away** | past · perfect | Maria |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «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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