---
title: The boy could hardly believe his ears when he heard what was in stor… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The boy could hardly believe his ears when he heard what was in store for him, for his was the most beautiful princess in all the world; and however thick the darkness might be, it fled away at once from the light of a star on her forehead. Who acts: boy, darkness. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Boo
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23, sentence 72

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The boy could hardly believe his ears when he heard what was in store for him, for his was the most beautiful princess in all the world; and however thick the darkness might be, it fled away at once from the light of a star on her forehead.

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**Who acts:** boy, darkness · **What happens:** believe, hear, be, flee away, light · **To what, where:** ears, store, world, light, star · **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 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, darkness), 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:pg3282:23:72
# text = The boy could hardly believe his ears when he heard what was in store for him, for his was the most beautiful princess in all the world; and however thick the darkness might be, it fled away at once from the light of a star on her forehead.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	believe	believe	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
11	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	cop	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	store	store	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	ccomp	_	_
15	for	for	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
18	for	for	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
22	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	23	advmod	_	_
23	beautiful	beautiful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	conj	_	_
25	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
26	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	28	det:predet	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	world	world	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
31	however	however	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	parataxis	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	darkness	darkness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	nsubj	_	_
35	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	36	aux	_	_
36	be	be	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	32	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
39	fled	flee	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	conj	_	_
40	away	away	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
41	at	at	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	39	obl	_	_
43	from	from	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	45	det	_	_
45	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	obl	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	48	det	_	_
48	star	star	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
49	on	on	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	forehead	forehead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **believe** | could | the boy | boy's ears |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer ear=Stimulus |
| 2 | **hear** | past | boy |  |  |  |  | for giant | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V PP.stimulus»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **is** | past |  |  |  | store |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | boy *not said here* |  |  | all world |  | for giant's beautiful princess | tree rules |
| 5 | **be** | might | the darkness |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **flee away** | past | darkness |  |  | the light of a star on princess's forehead |  | away *property* | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from light=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **light** |  |  | a star on princess's forehead |  |  |  |  | nom light «phenomenon transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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