---
title: They were so near that he could almost seize their tails, yet each t… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They were so near that he could almost seize their tails, yet each time he felt sure he could catch them his fingers closed on the empty air. Who acts: eyes, wisdom. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 30, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 30, sentence 21

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They were so near that he could almost seize their tails, yet each time he felt sure he could catch them his fingers closed on the empty air.

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**Who acts:** eyes, wisdom · **What happens:** seize, feel, catch, close · **To what, where:** tails, time, eyes, empty air

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 30. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eyes, wisdom), 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:pg3027:30:21
# text = They were so near that he could almost seize their tails, yet each time he felt sure he could catch them his fingers closed on the empty air.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
3	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
4	near	near	ADP	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
9	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
10	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	yet	yet	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	15	det	_	_
15	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:unmarked	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	acl:relcl	_	_
18	sure	sure	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	advcl	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	ccomp	_	_
22	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	obj	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	fingers	finger	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	obj	_	_
25	closed	close	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	xcomp	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	empty	empty	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	air	air	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seize** | could · past | eyes *= eye* | eyes's tails |  |  |  | almost *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Theme |
| 2 | **feel** | past | wisdom | each time *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent time=Theme |
| 3 | **catch** | could | wisdom | eyes *= eye* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **close** | participle | wisdom *not said here* |  |  | the empty air |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=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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