---
title: But the hero sprang behind a rock--just in time, for the ground upon… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the hero sprang behind a rock--just in time, for the ground upon which he had been standing was turned to molten glass, like an overbaked pot, by the heat of the flame-spirit's breath. Who acts: hero, heat, breath. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 1, with its d
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 1, sentence 89

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the hero sprang behind a rock--just in time, for the ground upon which he had been standing was turned to molten glass, like an overbaked pot, by the heat of the flame-spirit's breath.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** hero, heat, breath · **What happens:** spring, stand, turn, overbak, heat · **To what, where:** rock, ground, molten glass

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (hero, heat, breath), 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:pg3027:1:89
# text = But the hero sprang behind a rock--just in time, for the ground upon which he had been standing was turned to molten glass, like an overbaked pot, by the heat of the flame-spirit's breath.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	hero	hero	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	sprang	spring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	just	just	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
16	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	21	aux	_	_
21	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	acl:relcl	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux:pass	_	_
23	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	acl:relcl	_	_
24	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	molten	molten	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	glass	glass	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	like	like	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	overbaked	overbak	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	31	amod	_	_
31	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	by	by	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	heat	heat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
38	flame	flame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	38	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	spirit	spirit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	's	's	PART	POS	_	40	case	_	_
42	breath	breath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **spring** | past | the hero |  |  | a rock | time | for the ground | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme behind rock=Trajectory |
| 2 | **stand** | past · perfect · progressive | hero |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **turn** | past · passive | the heat of the flame spirit's breath | the ground |  | molten glass |  | like a overbaked pot | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP PP.trajectory»: agent=Agent subject=Theme to glass=Trajectory |
| 4 | **overbak** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **heat** |  | the flame spirit's breath |  |  |  |  |  | nom heat «phenomenon intransitive»: of=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 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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