---
title: Then the first stepped forward and laid a hand upon his shoulder, an… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the first stepped forward and laid a hand upon his shoulder, and Wali Dâd began to feel that something strange—what, he did not know—was happening to him. Who acts: first, Wali. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2, with its dependenc
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the first stepped forward and laid a hand upon his shoulder, and Wali Dâd began to feel that something strange—what, he did not know—was happening to him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** first, Wali · **What happens:** step forward, lay, begin, feel, not know, happen · **To what, where:** hand, shoulder, Wali · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (first, Wali), 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:pg3282:35:9
# text = Then the first stepped forward and laid a hand upon his shoulder, and Wali Dâd began to feel that something strange—what, he did not know—was happening to him.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	4	nsubj	_	_
4	stepped	step	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	forward	forward	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	laid	lay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
10	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	shoulder	shoulder	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
15	Wali	Wali	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
16	Dâd	Dâd	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	flat	_	_
17	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
18	to	to	PART	TO	_	19	mark	_	_
19	feel	feel	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	_
20	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	obl	_	_
21	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	20	fixed	_	_
22	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	21	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	29	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	—	-	PUNCT	:	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	happening	happen	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	ccomp	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **step forward** | past | the first |  |  |  | then | forward *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **lay** | past | the first *not said here* | a hand |  | Wali's shoulder |  |  | vn put\_spatial-9.2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent hand=Theme upon shoulder=Destination |
| 3 | **begin** | past | Wali |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 4 | **feel** | to-infinitive | Wali *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **know** | past · do-support | Wali |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **happen** | past · progressive |  |  | Wali |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=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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