---
title: He cried to his friends to help him, and at last, trembling with fri… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He cried to his friends to help him, and at last, trembling with fright at what they were going to see, they managed between them to land on the bank a creature that was neither a calf nor a seal, but something of both, with a long, broad tail. Who acts: sun, friends, that. A sentence of «The Brown 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 86

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He cried to his friends to help him, and at last, trembling with fright at what they were going to see, they managed between them to land on the bank a creature that was neither a calf nor a seal, but something of both, with a long, broad tail.

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**Who acts:** sun, friends, that · **What happens:** cry, help, tremble, go, see, manage · **To what, where:** friends, sun, last, creature, bank, calf

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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 (sun, friends, that), 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:pg3282:8:86
# text = He cried to his friends to help him, and at last, trembling with fright at what they were going to see, they managed between them to land on the bank a creature that was neither a calf nor a seal, but something of both, with a long, broad tail.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	to	to	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	obl	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	help	help	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	at	at	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	trembling	tremble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	fright	fright	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
17	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	14	obl	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	acl:relcl	_	_
22	to	to	PART	TO	_	23	mark	_	_
23	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
26	managed	manage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
27	between	between	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obl	_	_
29	to	to	PART	TO	_	30	mark	_	_
30	land	land	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	_
31	on	on	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
36	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	40	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	cop	_	_
38	neither	neither	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	40	cc:preconj	_	_
39	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	calf	calf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	parataxis	_	_
41	nor	nor	CCONJ	CC	Polarity=Neg	43	cc	_	_
42	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	43	det	_	_
43	seal	seal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
45	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
46	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	55	nsubj	_	_
47	of	of	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
48	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	46	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
50	with	with	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
51	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
52	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
54	broad	broad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	55	amod	_	_
55	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **cry** *speech: express* | past | sun |  | sun's friends |  |  | with a long broad tail | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent to friend=Recipient |
| 2 | **help** | to-infinitive | sun *not said here* |  | sun |  |  |  | vn help-72.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **tremble** | gerund | sun *not said here* |  |  | last |  | with fright | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at last=Location |
| 4 | **go** | past · progressive | friends *= friend* |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **see** | to-infinitive | friends *= friend* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **manage** | past | friends *= friend* |  |  |  |  | between roots *= root* | vn succeed-74-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 7 | **land** | to-infinitive | friends *= friend* *not said here* | a creature |  | the bank |  |  | vn pocket-9.10-1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme on bank=Destination |
| 8 | **is a** | past | that | a calf nor a seal |  |  |  |  | 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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