---
title: “Some demon has told you that! some demon has told you that!” scream… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: “Some demon has told you that! some demon has told you that!” screamed the little man, and in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist; then in a passion he seized the left foot with both hands and tore himself in two. Who acts: little man, foot, demon. A 
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Tale of a Youth Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was, sentence 229

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“Some demon has told you that! some demon has told you that!” screamed the little man, and in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist; then in a passion he seized the left foot with both hands and tore himself in two.

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**Who acts:** little man, foot, demon · **What happens:** tell, scream, drive, sink, seize, tore · **To what, where:** demon, you, right foot, rage, waist, left foot · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Tale of a Youth Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little man, foot, demon), 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:pg503:13:229
# text = “Some demon has told you that! some demon has told you that!” screamed the little man, and in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist; then in a passion he seized the left foot with both hands and tore himself in two.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	3	det	_	_
3	demon	demon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	iobj	_	_
7	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	6	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	_
9	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	10	det	_	_
10	demon	demon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	told	tell	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	ccomp	_	_
13	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	12	iobj	_	_
14	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
17	screamed	scream	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	ccomp	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
23	in	in	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	rage	rage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	_
26	drove	drive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
28	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	amod	_	_
29	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
30	so	so	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
31	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	26	advmod	_	_
32	into	into	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
35	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	sank	sink	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
38	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
39	up	up	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
40	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	42	nmod:poss	_	_
42	waist	waist	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	49	punct	_	_
44	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	49	advmod	_	_
45	in	in	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	passion	passion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	_
48	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	49	nsubj	_	_
49	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
51	left	left	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	52	amod	_	_
52	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obj	_	_
53	with	with	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
54	both	both	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	55	det	_	_
55	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	obl	_	_
56	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	57	cc	_	_
57	tore	tore	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	49	conj	_	_
58	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	57	obj	_	_
59	in	in	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	57	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | some demon | you |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present · perfect · passive |  | some demon | you |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient you=Topic |
| 3 | **scream** *speech: express* | past | the little man |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **drive** | past |  | demon's right foot |  | demon's rage |  | far *property* | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent foot=Theme in rage=Destination |
| 5 | **sink** | past | foot |  |  | demon's waist |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **seize** | past | demon | the left foot |  | a passion | then | with both hands | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent foot=Theme |
| 7 | **tore** | past | demon *not said here* | man |  | two |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **rage** |  | demon |  |  |  |  |  | nom rage «feeling 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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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