---
title: Then the manikin fell on them like lightning, darting this way and t… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the manikin fell on them like lightning, darting this way and that way, and whosoever was so much as touched by his cudgel fell to earth, and did not venture to stir again. Who acts: manikin, whosoever, cudgel. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Blue Light, with its depende
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, The Blue Light, sentence 79

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the manikin fell on them like lightning, darting this way and that way, and whosoever was so much as touched by his cudgel fell to earth, and did not venture to stir again.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** manikin, whosoever, cudgel · **What happens:** fall, dart, be, touch, not venture, stir · **To what, where:** way

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, The Blue Light. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (manikin, whosoever, cudgel), 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:pg2591:46:79
# text = Then the manikin fell on them like lightning, darting this way and that way, and whosoever was so much as touched by his cudgel fell to earth, and did not venture to stir again.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	manikin	manikin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obl	_	_
7	like	like	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	lightning	lightning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
10	darting	dart	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
11	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	12	det	_	_
12	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
14	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	15	det	_	_
15	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	whosoever	whosoever	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	21	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
22	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
23	touched	touch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	advcl	_	_
24	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	cudgel	cudgel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
28	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	earth	earth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
32	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	venture	venture	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
35	to	to	PART	TO	_	36	mark	_	_
36	stir	stir	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
37	again	again	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fall** | past | the manikin |  |  |  | then | on commands *= command*; like lightning | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on they=Location |
| 2 | **dart** | gerund | the manikin *not said here* | this way and that way |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent way=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | whosoever |  |  |  |  | much *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **touch** | participle | whosoever *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **fall** | past | king's cudgel |  |  |  |  | to earth | vn acquiesce-95.1-1 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent to earth=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **venture** | past · do-support | the manikin *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 7 | **stir** | to-infinitive | the manikin *not said here* |  |  |  | again |  | 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:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (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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