---
title: When he approached the place he found that the dry grass and leaves… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When he approached the place he found that the dry grass and leaves were on fire, and on a tree, surrounded by flames, a snake was coiled, hissing with terror. Who acts: shepherd, dry grass, snake. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, with its depend
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When he approached the place he found that the dry grass and leaves were on fire, and on a tree, surrounded by flames, a snake was coiled, hissing with terror.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** shepherd, dry grass, snake · **What happens:** approach, find, be, surround, hiss · **To what, where:** place, fire, tree · **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 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (shepherd, dry grass, snake), 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:pg2435:6:9
# text = When he approached the place he found that the dry grass and leaves were on fire, and on a tree, surrounded by flames, a snake was coiled, hissing with terror.
1	When	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	approached	approach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	dry	dry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	grass	grass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	leaves	leaf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
14	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	cop	_	_
15	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
23	surrounded	surround	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	7	ccomp	_	_
24	by	by	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
25	flames	flame	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	obl:agent	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	coiled	coiled	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
32	hissing	hiss	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	30	advcl	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	terror	terror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **approach** | past | shepherd | the place |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent place=Theme |
| 2 | **find** | past | shepherd |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | the dry grass and leaves |  |  | fire |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **surround** | participle |  |  |  | a tree |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | a snake |  |  |  |  | coiled *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **hiss** | gerund | a snake *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with terror | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with terror=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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