---
title: The people held their breath, for they thought: 'Surely the boy is b… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The people held their breath, for they thought: 'Surely the boy is bewitched and throws away his life, for the crocodiles will eat him!' Who acts: people, crocodiles. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 1, sentence 46

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The people held their breath, for they thought: 'Surely the boy is bewitched and throws away his life, for the crocodiles will eat him!'

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**Who acts:** people, crocodiles · **What happens:** hold, think, bewitch, throw away, eat · **To what, where:** breath, boy, life · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (people, crocodiles), 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:pg3027:1:46
# text = The people held their breath, for they thought: 'Surely the boy is bewitched and throws away his life, for the crocodiles will eat him!'
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
11	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	16	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	Surely	surely	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux:pass	_	_
16	bewitched	bewitch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	advcl	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	throws	throw	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
19	away	away	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	crocodiles	crocodile	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	nsubj	_	_
26	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
27	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	ccomp	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	27	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	'	'	PUNCT	''	_	27	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold** | past | the people | people's breath |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent breath=Theme |
| 2 | **think** *speech: other* | past | people |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **bewitch** | present · passive |  | the boy |  |  |  | surely *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 4 | **throw away** | present |  | boy's life |  |  |  | away *property* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent life=Theme |
| 5 | **eat** | future | the crocodiles | boy |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

<!-- .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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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