---
title: Then a low sound was heard, as of the edge of a knife touching a sil… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then a low sound was heard, as of the edge of a knife touching a silver plate, and the king was so startled that he nearly dropped the knob. Who acts: knife, king. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 9, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every 
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 9, sentence 27

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then a low sound was heard, as of the edge of a knife touching a silver plate, and the king was so startled that he nearly dropped the knob.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** knife, king · **What happens:** hear, touch, startle, drop · **To what, where:** low sound, silver plate, king, knob

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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 (knife, king), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3454:9:27
# text = Then a low sound was heard, as of the edge of a knife touching a silver plate, and the king was so startled that he nearly dropped the knob.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	sound	sound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux:pass	_	_
6	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
8	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	11	case	_	_
9	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	fixed	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	edge	edge	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	touching	touch	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	14	acl	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	silver	silver	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	compound	_	_
18	plate	plate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj:pass	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	aux:pass	_	_
24	so	so	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	startled	startle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	nearly	nearly	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	dropped	drop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	advcl	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	knob	knob	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hear** | past · passive |  | a low sound |  |  | then |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Stimulus |
| 2 | **touch** | gerund | a knife *not said here* | a silver plate |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme plate=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **startle** | past · passive |  | the king |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 4 | **drop** | past | king | the knob |  |  |  | nearly *property* | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knob=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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