---
title: He looked at the girl he was clasping, and beheld a great black bird… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He looked at the girl he was clasping, and beheld a great black bird standing at his side; he turned to his friends, but a flock of great awkward flapping creatures stood in their place He put up his hands to cover his face, but they were no more hands, only the ends of wings; and when he tried to s
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 105

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He looked at the girl he was clasping, and beheld a great black bird standing at his side; he turned to his friends, but a flock of great awkward flapping creatures stood in their place He put up his hands to cover his face, but they were no more hands, only the ends of wings; and when he tried to speak, a noise such as he had never heard before seemed to come from his throat, which had suddenly become narrow and slender.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** water, great black bird, flock, hands, throat · **What happens:** look, clasp, behold, stand, turn, put up · **To what, where:** girl, great black bird, side, place, hands, face · **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 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (water, great black bird, flock, hands), 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:pg3282:8:105
# text = He looked at the girl he was clasping, and beheld a great black bird standing at his side; he turned to his friends, but a flock of great awkward flapping creatures stood in their place He put up his hands to cover his face, but they were no more hands, only the ends of wings; and when he tried to speak, a noise such as he had never heard before seemed to come from his throat, which had suddenly become narrow and slender.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	at	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	girl	girl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	clasping	clasp	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	5	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	beheld	behold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
12	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
13	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
14	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obj	_	_
16	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	acl	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	turned	turn	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	flock	flock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
30	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
31	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
32	awkward	awkward	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
33	flapping	flapping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	_
34	creatures	creature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	nmod	_	_
35	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
36	in	in	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	place	place	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	40	nsubj	_	_
40	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	conj	_	_
41	up	up	ADP	RP	_	40	compound:prt	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obj	_	_
44	to	to	PART	TO	_	45	mark	_	_
45	cover	cover	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	40	advcl	_	_
46	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
49	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	54	cc	_	_
50	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
51	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
52	no	no	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
53	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	54	amod	_	_
54	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
56	only	only	ADV	RB	_	58	advmod	_	_
57	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	58	det	_	_
58	ends	end	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	54	conj	_	_
59	of	of	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	58	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	65	punct	_	_
62	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	65	cc	_	_
63	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	65	advmod	_	_
64	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	65	nsubj	_	_
65	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
66	to	to	PART	TO	_	67	mark	_	_
67	speak	speak	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	65	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
68	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	70	punct	_	_
69	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	70	det	_	_
70	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	67	obj	_	_
71	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|ExtPos=SCONJ	76	mark	_	_
72	as	as	ADP	IN	_	71	fixed	_	_
73	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	76	nsubj	_	_
74	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	76	aux	_	_
75	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	76	advmod	_	_
76	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	70	acl:relcl	_	_
77	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	78	mark	_	_
78	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	76	ccomp	_	_
79	to	to	PART	TO	_	80	mark	_	_
80	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	78	xcomp	_	_
81	from	from	ADP	IN	_	83	case	_	_
82	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	83	nmod:poss	_	_
83	throat	throat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	80	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
84	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	88	punct	_	_
85	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	88	nsubj	_	_
86	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	88	aux	_	_
87	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	88	advmod	_	_
88	become	become	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	83	acl:relcl	_	_
89	narrow	narrow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	88	xcomp	_	_
90	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	91	cc	_	_
91	slender	slender	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	89	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
92	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look** | past | water |  |  |  |  | at the girl | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at girl=Theme |
| 2 | **clasp** | past · progressive | water | the girl *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn hold-15.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent girl=Theme |
| 3 | **behold** | past | water *not said here* | a great black bird |  |  |  |  | vn sight-30.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bird=Stimulus |
| 4 | **stand** | gerund | a great black bird *not said here* |  |  | water's side |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent at side=Location |
| 5 | **turn** | past | water |  |  |  |  | to water's friends *result* | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to friend=Result |
| 6 | **stand** | past | a flock of great awkward flapping creatures |  |  | friends's place |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in place=Location |
| 7 | **put up** | past | water | water's hands |  |  |  |  | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent hand=Goal |
| 8 | **cover** | to-infinitive | water *not said here* | water's face |  |  |  |  | vn fill-9.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme face=Destination |
| 9 | **not** **is a** | past | hands *= hand* | more hands and the ends of wings |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 10 | **try** | past | water |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 11 | **speak** *speech: other* *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | water *not said here* | a noise |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 12 | **not** **hear** | past · perfect | water | a noise *not said here* |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 13 | **seem** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 14 | **come** | to-infinitive |  |  |  | water's throat |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme from throat=Initial\_Location |
| 15 | **become** | past · perfect | water's throat |  |  |  |  | narrow, suddenly *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=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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