---
title: “He was here a moment ago—I saw him with my own eyes,” and the guard… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “He was here a moment ago—I saw him with my own eyes,” and the guards dared not contradict her, though they shook their heads and whispered to each other that the princess had gone mad on this subject, and saw a man in every table and chair. Who acts: buzzing, guards, princess. A sentence of «The Br
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 18, sentence 61

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“He was here a moment ago—I saw him with my own eyes,” and the guards dared not contradict her, though they shook their heads and whispered to each other that the princess had gone mad on this subject, and saw a man in every table and chair.

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**Who acts:** buzzing, guards, princess · **What happens:** be, see, contradict, shake, whisper, go · **To what, where:** buzzing, princess, heads, each, subject, man · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (buzzing, guards, princess), 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:pg3282:18:61
# text = “He was here a moment ago—I saw him with my own eyes,” and the guards dared not contradict her, though they shook their heads and whispered to each other that the princess had gone mad on this subject, and saw a man in every table and chair.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl:unmarked	_	_
7	ago	ago	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
11	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obj	_	_
12	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
14	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	guards	guard	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
21	dared	dare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	21	advmod	_	_
23	contradict	contradict	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	conj	_	_
24	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	shook	shake	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	conj	_	_
29	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obj	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	whispered	whisper	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	each	each	DET	DT	ExtPos=PRON|PronType=Rcp	32	obl	_	_
35	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	fixed	_	_
36	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	40	mark	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	nsubj	_	_
39	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	aux	_	_
40	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	32	ccomp	_	_
41	mad	mad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	40	xcomp	_	_
42	on	on	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
43	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	44	det	_	_
44	subject	subject	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
48	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	49	det	_	_
49	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	_
50	in	in	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	52	det	_	_
52	table	table	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	_
53	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
54	chair	chair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | past | buzzing |  |  |  |  | ago, here *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** *in a quote* | past | guards *= guard* | buzzing |  |  |  | with my own eyes | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 3 | **contradict** | past | the guards | princess |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **shake** | past | guards *= guard* | guards's heads |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent head=Patient |
| 5 | **whisper** *speech: assert* | past | guards *= guard* *not said here* |  | each |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient that S»: agent=Agent to each=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 6 | **go** | past · perfect | the princess |  |  | this subject |  | mad *property* | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on subject=Location |
| 7 | **see** | past | buzzing *not said here* | a man |  | every table and chair |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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