---
title: Little did he guess that on top of the battlements, exactly over his… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Little did he guess that on top of the battlements, exactly over his head, stood a man who was taking his last look at the same sun, before going to his death that awaited him. Who acts: sun, man, death. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20, with its dep
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Little did he guess that on top of the battlements, exactly over his head, stood a man who was taking his last look at the same sun, before going to his death that awaited him.

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**Who acts:** sun, man, death · **What happens:** guess, stand, take, go, await, die · **To what, where:** that, top, man, last look, same sun, death

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sun, man, death), 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:pg3454:20:10
# text = Little did he guess that on top of the battlements, exactly over his head, stood a man who was taking his last look at the same sun, before going to his death that awaited him.
1	Little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	ccomp	_	_
2	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	guess	guess	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	4	obj	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	battlements	battlement	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
12	exactly	exactly	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
13	over	over	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
17	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	parataxis	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	22	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	taking	take	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	acl:relcl	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
24	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	look	look	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	_
26	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
28	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	32	mark	_	_
32	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	advcl	_	_
33	to	to	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	death	death	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	_
36	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	37	nsubj	_	_
37	awaited	await	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	acl:relcl	_	_
38	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guess** | past · do-support | sun | that |  | top of the battlements |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Theme |
| 2 | **stand** | past |  | a man |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |
| 3 | **take** | past · progressive | a man | sun's last look |  | the same sun |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP PP.source NP.asset»: agent=Agent look=Theme at sun=Asset |
| 4 | **go** | gerund |  |  |  | sun's death |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to death=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **await** | past | sun's death | sun |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **die** |  | sun |  |  |  |  |  | nom death «event intransitive»: poss=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 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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