---
title: Then one by one the men tried the whistle, and blew so loudly that i… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then one by one the men tried the whistle, and blew so loudly that it seemed as if their lungs would burst, but the women lay stark and stiff and never moved an eyelid. Who acts: one men, it, lungs, women. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 12, with its d
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 12, sentence 72

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then one by one the men tried the whistle, and blew so loudly that it seemed as if their lungs would burst, but the women lay stark and stiff and never moved an eyelid.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** one men, it, lungs, women · **What happens:** try, blow, seem, burst, lie, not move · **To what, where:** whistle, stark, eyelid

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 12. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one men, it, lungs, women), 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:pg3454:12:72
# text = Then one by one the men tried the whistle, and blew so loudly that it seemed as if their lungs would burst, but the women lay stark and stiff and never moved an eyelid.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	6	nummod	_	_
3	by	by	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
4	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nmod	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nsubj	_	_
7	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	whistle	whistle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	blew	blow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	loudly	loudly	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	advcl	_	_
18	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
19	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	lungs	lung	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
22	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
23	burst	burst	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	women	woman	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
28	lay	lie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
29	stark	stark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
31	stiff	stiff	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	conj	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	moved	move	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	conj	_	_
35	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	eyelid	eyelid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | the one men | the whistle |  |  | then |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent whistle=Eventuality |
| 2 | **blow** | past | the one men *not said here* |  |  |  |  | loudly *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 4 | **burst** *a condition, not said to happen* | would | husbands's lungs |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **lie** | past | the women | stark |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location stark=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **move** | past | the women *not said here* | a eyelid |  |  |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent eyelid=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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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