---
title: Meanwhile the figure was always drawing nearer, nearer; but, with a… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Meanwhile the figure was always drawing nearer, nearer; but, with a violent effort, Alonzo shook off his stupor, and taking aim at her shoulder he pulled the trigger. Who acts: figure, Alonzo, manner. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, with its depend
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, sentence 23

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Meanwhile the figure was always drawing nearer, nearer; but, with a violent effort, Alonzo shook off his stupor, and taking aim at her shoulder he pulled the trigger.

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**Who acts:** figure, Alonzo, manner · **What happens:** draw, shake off, take, pull · **To what, where:** stupor, aim, shoulder, trigger

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (figure, Alonzo, manner), 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:pg3282:11:23
# text = Meanwhile the figure was always drawing nearer, nearer; but, with a violent effort, Alonzo shook off his stupor, and taking aim at her shoulder he pulled the trigger.
1	Meanwhile	meanwhile	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	figure	figure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
6	drawing	draw	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	6	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
9	nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	violent	violent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	effort	effort	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
18	Alonzo	Alonzo	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	19	nsubj	_	_
19	shook	shake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
20	off	off	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	stupor	stupor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
26	aim	aim	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	_
27	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	shoulder	shoulder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	pulled	pull	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	acl:relcl	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	trigger	trigger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **draw** | past · progressive | the figure |  |  |  |  | always, meanwhile, near *property* | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **shake off** | past | Alonzo | manner's stupor |  |  |  | with a violent effort | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP PP»: agent=Agent stupor=Patient with effort=Co-Patient |
| 3 | **take** | gerund | the figure *not said here* | aim |  | Alonzo's shoulder |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent aim=Theme at shoulder=Asset |
| 4 | **pull** | past | manner | the trigger |  |  |  |  | vn push-12-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent trigger=Theme |

<!-- .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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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