---
title: Then he came nearer and nearer, till he reckoned that he was within… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then he came nearer and nearer, till he reckoned that he was within a sword’s stroke of the youngest, and he guessed where he should strike a back blow behind him. Who acts: boy, sword. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Terrible Head, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Terrible Head, sentence 85

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then he came nearer and nearer, till he reckoned that he was within a sword’s stroke of the youngest, and he guessed where he should strike a back blow behind him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** boy, sword · **What happens:** come, reckon, be, guess, strike, stroke · **To what, where:** back blow · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Terrible Head. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, sword), 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:pg503:27:85
# text = Then he came nearer and nearer, till he reckoned that he was within a sword’s stroke of the youngest, and he guessed where he should strike a back blow behind him.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	3	xcomp	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	nearer	near	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	10	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	reckoned	reckon	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
14	within	within	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	’s	's	PART	POS	_	16	case	_	_
18	stroke	stroke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	youngest	young	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	10	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	guessed	guess	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
26	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	29	advmod	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	strike	strike	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	25	ccomp	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
31	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
33	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | boy |  |  |  | then | near *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **reckon** | past | boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | boy |  |  |  |  | within a sword's stroke; young *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **guess** | past | boy |  |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **strike** | should | boy | a back blow |  |  |  | behind bird | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent blow=Patient |
| 6 | **stroke** |  | a sword |  |  |  |  |  | nom stroke «act transitive»: 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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