---
title: He walked fast, looking anxiously round him, and longing once more t… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He walked fast, looking anxiously round him, and longing once more to see his darling Bellissima, but he had not gone far before he was surrounded by four terrible sphinxes who would very soon have torn him to pieces with their sharp talons if it had not been for the Mermaid’s diamond sword. Who act
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, The Yellow Dwarf, part 3, sentence 60

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He walked fast, looking anxiously round him, and longing once more to see his darling Bellissima, but he had not gone far before he was surrounded by four terrible sphinxes who would very soon have torn him to pieces with their sharp talons if it had not been for the Mermaid’s diamond sword.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** King, four terrible sphinxes, memory · **What happens:** walk, look, long, see, not go, surround · **To what, where:** more, darling Bellissima, King

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Yellow Dwarf, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, four terrible sphinxes, memory), 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:pg503:7:60
# text = He walked fast, looking anxiously round him, and longing once more to see his darling Bellissima, but he had not gone far before he was surrounded by four terrible sphinxes who would very soon have torn him to pieces with their sharp talons if it had not been for the Mermaid’s diamond sword.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	walked	walk	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	looking	look	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
6	anxiously	anxiously	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	round	round	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	longing	long	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
12	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	13	advmod	_	_
13	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	11	obj	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
16	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
17	darling	darling	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	Bellissima	Bellissima	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
21	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
22	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
23	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	24	advmod	_	_
24	gone	go	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	2	conj	_	_
25	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	24	advmod	_	_
26	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux:pass	_	_
29	surrounded	surround	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	advcl	_	_
30	by	by	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
31	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	33	nummod	_	_
32	terrible	terrible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	sphinxes	sphinx	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl:agent	_	_
34	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	39	nsubj	_	_
35	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
36	very	very	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	39	advmod	_	_
38	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	torn	tear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	33	acl:relcl	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	_
41	to	to	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	39	obl	_	_
43	with	with	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
45	sharp	sharp	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	talons	talon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nmod	_	_
47	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
48	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	57	nsubj	_	_
49	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
50	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	57	advmod	_	_
51	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	57	cop	_	_
52	for	for	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	54	det	_	_
54	Mermaid	Mermaid	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	57	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	’s	's	PART	POS	_	54	case	_	_
56	diamond	diamond	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	compound	_	_
57	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	39	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **walk** | past | King |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **look** | gerund | King *not said here* |  |  |  |  | round King; anxiously *property* | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent round he=Theme |
| 3 | **long** | gerund | King *not said here* | more |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **see** | to-infinitive | King *not said here* | King's darling Bellissima |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer bellissima=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **go** | past · perfect | King |  |  |  |  | far *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **surround** | past · passive | four terrible sphinxes | King |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Co-Theme |
| 7 | **tear** | would · perfect | four terrible sphinxes | King |  |  |  | to pieces with sisters's sharp talons *result*; soon *property* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent he=Patient to piece=Result |
| 8 | **not** **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | memory |  |  |  |  | for the Mermaid's diamond sword | tree rules |

<!-- .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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