---
title: But now it seemed her turn to feel afraid, for she paused an instant… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But now it seemed her turn to feel afraid, for she paused an instant while he pressed forward, still holding the pistol above his head, prepared to strike. Who acts: it, figure, club. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, with its dependency tree and the
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/28/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/) / 28

# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, sentence 28

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But now it seemed her turn to feel afraid, for she paused an instant while he pressed forward, still holding the pistol above his head, prepared to strike.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** it, figure, club · **What happens:** seem, feel, pause, press forward, hold, prepare · **To what, where:** turn, instant, pistol, head

<!-- .vabout -->
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 (it, figure, club), 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:pg3282:11:28
# text = But now it seemed her turn to feel afraid, for she paused an instant while he pressed forward, still holding the pistol above his head, prepared to strike.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
3	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	turn	turn	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	xcomp	_	_
9	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	paused	pause	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
14	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
16	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	pressed	press	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	advcl	_	_
19	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	still	still	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	pistol	pistol	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
25	above	above	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
29	prepared	prepare	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	18	conj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	strike	strike	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | it | figure's turn |  |  | now |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **feel** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 3 | **pause** | past | figure | a instant |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **press forward** | past | club |  |  |  |  | forward *property* | vn push-12-1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **hold** | gerund | club *not said here* | the pistol |  | club's head | still |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent pistol=Theme above head=Location |
| 6 | **prepare** | participle | club *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn hire-13.5.3 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent clause=Attribute |
| 7 | **strike** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | club *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/27/)
- next →: [sentence 29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/29/)
- ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/)