---
title: It needed a brave man to approach it, for it made your hair stand on… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It needed a brave man to approach it, for it made your hair stand on end merely to look at it; it was as dark as the night of a storm, and as silent as the grave. Who acts: spear, hair. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 5, with its depend
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 5, sentence 2

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
It needed a brave man to approach it, for it made your hair stand on end merely to look at it; it was as dark as the night of a storm, and as silent as the grave.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** spear, hair · **What happens:** need, approach, make, stand, look, be · **To what, where:** brave man, spear, hair, end

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Story of Wali Dâd the Simple-Hearted, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (spear, hair), 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:pg3282:38:2
# text = It needed a brave man to approach it, for it made your hair stand on end merely to look at it; it was as dark as the night of a storm, and as silent as the grave.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	brave	brave	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	approach	approach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
11	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
13	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	_
15	stand	stand	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	xcomp	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	end	end	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
18	merely	merely	ADV	RB	_	20	advmod	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
21	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	cop	_	_
26	as	as	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
27	dark	dark	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	2	parataxis	_	_
28	as	as	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	storm	storm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
36	as	as	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	conj	_	_
38	as	as	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	grave	grave	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **need** | past | spear | a brave man |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot man=Theme |
| 2 | **approach** | to-infinitive | spear *not said here* | spear |  |  |  |  | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **make** | past | spear | your hair |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **stand** | infinitive | your hair *not said here* |  |  |  | on end |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on end=Location |
| 5 | **look** | to-infinitive | your hair *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at spear; merely *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at it=Theme |
| 6 | **is** | past | spear |  |  |  | night | dark *property* | tree rules |
| 7 | **be** |  | spear *not said here* |  |  |  |  | as the grave | tree rules |

<!-- .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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