---
title: This time the prince's hand nearly opened of itself, but with a stro… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: This time the prince's hand nearly opened of itself, but with a strong effort he kept his fingers shut, and drawing his sword cut off its head, when the spell was broken, and the girl stood before him as he had seen her first, the wreath upon her head and the birds singing for joy. Who acts: prince,
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 13, sentence 32

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This time the prince's hand nearly opened of itself, but with a strong effort he kept his fingers shut, and drawing his sword cut off its head, when the spell was broken, and the girl stood before him as he had seen her first, the wreath upon her head and the birds singing for joy.

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**Who acts:** prince, girl, birds · **What happens:** open, keep, draw, cut off, break, stand · **To what, where:** fingers, sword, spell, girl

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (prince, girl, birds), 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:pg3027:13:32
# text = This time the prince's hand nearly opened of itself, but with a strong effort he kept his fingers shut, and drawing his sword cut off its head, when the spell was broken, and the girl stood before him as he had seen her first, the wreath upon her head and the birds singing for joy.
1	This	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	2	det	_	_
2	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl:unmarked	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	's	's	PART	POS	_	4	case	_	_
6	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
7	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	opened	open	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	effort	effort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	shut	shut	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
24	drawing	draw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
25	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
26	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
27	cut	cut	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	amod	_	_
28	off	off	ADP	RP	_	27	compound:prt	_	_
29	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
32	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	36	mark	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	spell	spell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	36	aux:pass	_	_
36	broken	break	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
38	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	_
41	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
42	before	before	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obl	_	_
44	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	47	mark	_	_
45	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
46	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	41	advcl	_	_
48	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	obj	_	_
49	first	first	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	47	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	wreath	wreath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
53	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	55	nmod:poss	_	_
55	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	55	conj	_	_
59	singing	sing	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	58	acl	_	_
60	for	for	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
61	joy	joy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	59	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **open** | past |  |  |  |  | time | of hand; nearly *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **keep** | past | prince | prince's fingers |  |  |  | with a strong effort; shut *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent finger=Theme |
| 3 | **draw** | gerund | prince *not said here* | prince's sword |  |  |  | sword's cut head *obl:unmarked* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme |
| 4 | **cut off** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |
| 5 | **break** | past · passive |  | the spell |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 6 | **stand** | past | the girl |  |  |  | before prince |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before he=Location |
| 7 | **see** | past · perfect | prince | girl |  |  |  | the wreath upon girl's head and the birds *obl*; first *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer she=Stimulus |
| 8 | **sing** *speech: express* | gerund | the birds *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for joy | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient S\_INF»: agent=Agent for joy=Recipient |

<!-- .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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