---
title: It seemed as if Rosald, being the smaller of the two, MUST fall over… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It seemed as if Rosald, being the smaller of the two, MUST fall over, when, with his left hand, he drew the robber’s sword out of its sheath and plunged it into his heart. Who acts: It, Rosald. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 12, with its dependency tr
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 12, sentence 101

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It seemed as if Rosald, being the smaller of the two, MUST fall over, when, with his left hand, he drew the robber’s sword out of its sheath and plunged it into his heart.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** It, Rosald · **What happens:** seem, be, fall over, draw, plunge · **To what, where:** sword, sheath, heart

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, Rosald), 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:pg3282:12:101
# text = It seemed as if Rosald, being the smaller of the two, MUST fall over, when, with his left hand, he drew the robber’s sword out of its sheath and plunged it into his heart.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	as	as	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	Rosald	Rosald	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	cop	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	smaller	small	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	2	conj	_	_
10	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	MUST	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	fall	fall	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
16	over	over	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
22	left	left	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	robber	robber	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	’s	's	PART	POS	_	28	case	_	_
30	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
31	out	out	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	34	nmod:poss	_	_
34	sheath	sheath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
36	plunged	plunge	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
37	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obj	_	_
38	into	into	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | It |  |  |  |  | as Rosald | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | of the two; small *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **fall over** | must |  |  |  |  |  | with Rosald's left hand; over *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **draw** | past | Rosald | the robber's sword |  | sword's sheath |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent sword=Theme out sheath=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **plunge** | past | Rosald *not said here* | sword |  | Rosald's heart |  |  | vn meander-47.7-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location it=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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