---
title: Flinging himself on his knees, the old man began filling the wallets… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Flinging himself on his knees, the old man began filling the wallets he had brought, listening intently all the time for the return of the stones up the hill, while Bernez more slowly put handfuls of all he could see into his pockets. Who acts: old man, procession, stones. A sentence of «The Lilac F
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 26, sentence 37

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Flinging himself on his knees, the old man began filling the wallets he had brought, listening intently all the time for the return of the stones up the hill, while Bernez more slowly put handfuls of all he could see into his pockets.

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**Who acts:** old man, procession, stones · **What happens:** fling, begin, fill, bring, listen, put · **To what, where:** procession, knees, wallets, Bernez, pockets

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, procession, stones), 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:pg3454:26:37
# text = Flinging himself on his knees, the old man began filling the wallets he had brought, listening intently all the time for the return of the stones up the hill, while Bernez more slowly put handfuls of all he could see into his pockets.
1	Flinging	fling	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	advcl	_	_
2	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	1	obj	_	_
3	on	on	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	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nsubj	_	_
10	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
11	filling	fill	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	xcomp	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	wallets	wallet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
15	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	13	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
18	listening	listen	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	conj	_	_
19	intently	intently	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
20	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	22	det:predet	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl:unmarked	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	return	return	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
26	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	stones	stone	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	nmod	_	_
29	up	up	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
33	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
34	Bernez	Bernez	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	37	nsubj:pass	_	_
35	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	37	advmod	_	_
36	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	put	put	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	conj	_	_
38	handfuls	handful	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	obj	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	38	nmod	_	_
41	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	nsubj	_	_
42	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	advcl	_	_
44	into	into	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
46	pockets	pocket	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fling** | gerund | the old man *not said here* | procession |  | procession's knees |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent himself=Theme on knee=Destination |
| 2 | **begin** | past | the old man |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **fill** | gerund | the old man *not said here* | the wallets |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent wallet=Patient |
| 4 | **bring** | past · perfect | procession | the wallets *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent wallet=Theme |
| 5 | **listen** | gerund | the old man *not said here* |  |  |  | time | for the return of the stones up the hill; intently *property* | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for return=Theme |
| 6 | **put** | participle · passive |  | Bernez |  |  |  | slowly *property* | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V NP PP.goal»: subject=Asset handful=Goal |
| 7 | **see** | could | procession |  |  | procession's pockets |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 8 | **return** |  | the stones up the hill |  |  |  |  |  | nom return «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 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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