---
title: So, flinging his spear at the mother to keep her back, he threw the… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So, flinging his spear at the mother to keep her back, he threw the little Bunyip on to his shoulders, and set out for the camp, never heeding the poor mother’s cries of distress. Who acts: captor, distress. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, with its 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 91

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So, flinging his spear at the mother to keep her back, he threw the little Bunyip on to his shoulders, and set out for the camp, never heeding the poor mother’s cries of distress.

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**Who acts:** captor, distress · **What happens:** fling, keep, throw, set out, not heed, cry · **To what, where:** spear, back, little Bunyip, shoulders, cries

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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 (captor, distress), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3282:8:91
# text = So, flinging his spear at the mother to keep her back, he threw the little Bunyip on to his shoulders, and set out for the camp, never heeding the poor mother’s cries of distress.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	flinging	fling	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
4	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	5	nmod:poss	_	_
5	spear	spear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obl	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	advcl	_	_
11	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	Bunyip	bunyip	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
19	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	19	fixed	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	shoulders	shoulder	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
25	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
26	out	out	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
27	for	for	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	camp	camp	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	32	advmod	_	_
32	heeding	heed	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	amod	_	_
35	mother	mother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’s	's	PART	POS	_	35	case	_	_
37	cries	cry	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	obj	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	distress	distress	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fling** | gerund | captor *not said here* | captor's spear |  |  |  | at the mother | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent spear=Theme at mother=Destination |
| 2 | **keep** | to-infinitive | captor *not said here* | mother's back |  |  |  |  | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent back=Theme |
| 3 | **throw** | past | captor | the little Bunyip |  | captor's shoulders |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent bunyip=Theme on shoulder=Destination |
| 4 | **set out** | past | captor *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for the camp | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **not** **heed** | gerund | captor *not said here* | the poor mother's cries of distress |  |  |  |  | vn abide\_by-93.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cry=Theme |
| 6 | **cry** |  | distress |  |  |  |  |  | nom cry «communication intransitive»: of=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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