---
title: Backwards and forwards they swayed, and first one was uppermost and… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Backwards and forwards they swayed, and first one was uppermost and then the other; but at length Ian worked his leg round the giant's and threw him to the ground. Who acts: arms, first one. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 5, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 5, sentence 17

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Backwards and forwards they swayed, and first one was uppermost and then the other; but at length Ian worked his leg round the giant's and threw him to the ground.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** arms, first one · **What happens:** sway, be, work, throw · **To what, where:** leg, length, giant, ground

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (arms, first one), 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:pg3027:5:17
# text = Backwards and forwards they swayed, and first one was uppermost and then the other; but at length Ian worked his leg round the giant's and threw him to the ground.
1	Backwards	backwards	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
3	forwards	forwards	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	swayed	sway	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
8	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	9	amod	_	_
9	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
11	uppermost	uppermost	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
13	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	15	advmod	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	21	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	length	length	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
20	Ian	Ian	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	appos	_	_
21	worked	work	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	round	round	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	giant	giant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	's	's	PART	POS	_	26	case	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sway** | past | arms *= arm* |  |  |  |  | backwards, forwards *property* | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | past | first one |  |  |  |  | uppermost *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **be** |  | first one *not said here* |  |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **work** | past | arms *= arm* *not said here* | Ian's leg |  | length |  | round the giant | vn knead-26.5 «NP V NP.material»: agent=Agent leg=Material |
| 5 | **throw** | past | arms *= arm* *not said here* | giant |  | the ground |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent he=Theme to ground=Destination |

<!-- .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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