---
title: But just as she was going to touch the foremost fish, her eyes fell… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But just as she was going to touch the foremost fish, her eyes fell on a green frog on his knees beside her, his little paws crossed over his little heart. Who acts: Bellah, eyes. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 34, with its dependency tree and the pra
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 34, sentence 104

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But just as she was going to touch the foremost fish, her eyes fell on a green frog on his knees beside her, his little paws crossed over his little heart.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Bellah, eyes · **What happens:** go, touch, fall, cross · **To what, where:** foremost fish, little paws, little heart

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Bellah, eyes), 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:pg3454:34:104
# text = But just as she was going to touch the foremost fish, her eyes fell on a green frog on his knees beside her, his little paws crossed over his little heart.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	foremost	foremost	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	nsubj	_	_
15	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	acl:relcl	_	_
16	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	frog	frog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	_
20	on	on	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	knees	knee	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	nmod	_	_
23	beside	beside	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
27	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	amod	_	_
28	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	conj	_	_
29	crossed	cross	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	28	acl	_	_
30	over	over	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
32	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past · progressive | Bellah |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **touch** | to-infinitive | Bellah *not said here* | the foremost fish and frog's little paws |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme fish=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **fall** | past | Bellah's eyes | the foremost fish and frog's little paws *not said here* |  |  |  | on a green frog on frog's knees; beside Bellah | vn become-109.1-1 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Patient fish=Result |
| 4 | **cross** | participle |  | frog's little paws *not said here* |  | frog's little heart |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-3 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme over heart=Initial\_Location |

<!-- .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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