---
title: A strange white line of light told him where the sword was, and cros… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: A strange white line of light told him where the sword was, and crossing the room on tiptoe, he seized the knob, and drew it slowly out of the sheath. Who acts: strange white line, sword, man. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 9, with its dependency tree
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 9, sentence 24

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
A strange white line of light told him where the sword was, and crossing the room on tiptoe, he seized the knob, and drew it slowly out of the sheath.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** strange white line, sword, man · **What happens:** tell, be, cross, seize, draw · **To what, where:** man, room, tiptoe, knob, sheath · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (strange white line, sword, man), 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:pg3454:9:24
# text = A strange white line of light told him where the sword was, and crossing the room on tiptoe, he seized the knob, and drew it slowly out of the sheath.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	strange	strange	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	line	line	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nmod	_	_
7	told	tell	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	iobj	_	_
9	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	12	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	crossing	cross	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	room	room	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	tiptoe	tiptoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
22	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	knob	knob	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obj	_	_
29	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
30	out	out	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	sheath	sheath	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | a strange white line of light |  | man |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP what S»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 2 | **be** | past | the sword |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **cross** | gerund | a strange white line of light *not said here* | the room |  | tiptoe |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent room=Patient |
| 4 | **seize** | past | man | the knob |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knob=Theme |
| 5 | **draw** | past |  | knob |  | the sheath |  | slowly *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: agent=Agent it=Theme out sheath=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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