---
title: Directly he saw the little speck coming towards him, he wished that… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Directly he saw the little speck coming towards him, he wished that the man’s snow-shoes might break, and that very instant the Lapp’s shoes snapped in two. Who acts: fox, little speck, snow shoes, shoes. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 27, with its de
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 27, sentence 36

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Directly he saw the little speck coming towards him, he wished that the man’s snow-shoes might break, and that very instant the Lapp’s shoes snapped in two.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** fox, little speck, snow shoes, shoes, man · **What happens:** see, come, wish, break, snap, snow · **To what, where:** little speck, two · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 27. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fox, little speck, snow shoes, shoes), 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:pg3282:27:36
# text = Directly he saw the little speck coming towards him, he wished that the man’s snow-shoes might break, and that very instant the Lapp’s shoes snapped in two.
1	Directly	directly	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	speck	speck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	coming	come	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	6	acl	_	_
8	towards	towards	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	wished	wish	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	’s	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	snow	snow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	shoes	shoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
20	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	break	break	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
24	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	26	nsubj	_	_
25	very	very	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	instant	instant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	advcl	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	Lapp	Lapp	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	30	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	’s	's	PART	POS	_	28	case	_	_
30	shoes	shoe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nsubj	_	_
31	snapped	snap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
32	in	in	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
33	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | fox | the little speck |  |  |  | directly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer speck=Stimulus |
| 2 | **come** | gerund | the little speck *not said here* |  |  |  |  | towards fox | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme towards he=Initial\_Location |
| 3 | **wish** | past | fox |  |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V for NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **break** | might | snow shoes |  |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Patient |
| 5 | **snap** | past | the Lapp's shoes |  |  | two |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in two=Location |
| 6 | **snow** |  | the man |  |  |  |  |  | nom snow «phenomenon intransitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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