---
title: His arms dropped heavily to his side, but in falling struck against… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: His arms dropped heavily to his side, but in falling struck against the sea shell, which, as he had promised Julia, he had always carried in his coat. Who acts: arms, air. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, sentence 33

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
His arms dropped heavily to his side, but in falling struck against the sea shell, which, as he had promised Julia, he had always carried in his coat.

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**Who acts:** arms, air · **What happens:** drop, fall, strike, promise, carry · **To what, where:** side, sea shell, Julia, air, coat

<!-- .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 (arms, air), 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:pg3282:11:33
# text = His arms dropped heavily to his side, but in falling struck against the sea shell, which, as he had promised Julia, he had always carried in his coat.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	nsubj	_	_
3	dropped	drop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	heavily	heavily	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
10	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	falling	fall	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
12	struck	strike	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
13	against	against	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	sea	sea	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	compound	_	_
16	shell	shell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	promised	promise	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	acl:relcl	_	_
24	Julia	Julia	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	23	iobj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
27	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	29	advmod	_	_
29	carried	carry	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	12	conj	_	_
30	in	in	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	coat	coat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **drop** | past | air's arms |  |  | air's side |  | heavily *property* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to side=Trajectory |
| 2 | **fall** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **strike** | participle | air's arms *not said here* |  |  | the sea shell |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme against shell=Location |
| 4 | **promise** *speech: promise* | past · perfect | air | the sea shell | Julia |  |  |  | vn future\_having-13.3 «NP V NP.goal NP»: agent=Agent julia=Goal which=Theme |
| 5 | **carry** | past · perfect · passive |  | air |  | air's coat |  | always *property* | vn fit-54.3 «NP V NP PP.location»: subject=Value in coat=Location |

<!-- .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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