---
title: Mayblossom was just about to follow their example when a terrific cr… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Mayblossom was just about to follow their example when a terrific croaking, as of an immense army of crows, rooks, ravens, screech-owls, and all birds of ill-omen was heard, and at the same instant a huge owl skimmed up to the Princess, and threw over her a scarf woven of spiders’ webs and embroider
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1, sentence 73

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Mayblossom was just about to follow their example when a terrific croaking, as of an immense army of crows, rooks, ravens, screech-owls, and all birds of ill-omen was heard, and at the same instant a huge owl skimmed up to the Princess, and threw over her a scarf woven of spiders’ webs and embroidered with bats’ wings.

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**Who acts:** Mayblossom, kingdoms · **What happens:** be, hear, skim up, throw, embroider, exemplify · **To what, where:** birds, huge owl, scarf woven

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Mayblossom, kingdoms), 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:pg540:3:73
# text = Mayblossom was just about to follow their example when a terrific croaking, as of an immense army of crows, rooks, ravens, screech-owls, and all birds of ill-omen was heard, and at the same instant a huge owl skimmed up to the Princess, and threw over her a scarf woven of spiders’ webs and embroidered with bats’ wings.
1	Mayblossom	Mayblossom	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
2	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	just	just	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	about	about	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	follow	follow	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	example	example	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	terrific	terrific	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	croaking	croaking	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	as	as	ADP	IN	ExtPos=ADP	18	case	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	fixed	_	_
16	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	immense	immense	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	army	army	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	crows	crow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	rooks	rook	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	ravens	raven	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	screech	screech	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	owls	owl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
31	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	32	det	_	_
32	birds	bird	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nsubj	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	ill	ill	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	omen	omen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	aux:pass	_	_
38	heard	hear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
41	at	at	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
42	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
43	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	44	amod	_	_
44	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	conj	_	_
45	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
46	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	owl	owl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	appos	_	_
48	skimmed	skim	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	acl	_	_
49	up	up	ADP	RP	_	48	compound:prt	_	_
50	to	to	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	Princess	princess	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	55	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	55	cc	_	_
55	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	parataxis	_	_
56	over	over	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	obl	_	_
58	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	60	det	_	_
59	scarf	scarf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	60	compound	_	_
60	woven	woven	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	obj	_	_
61	of	of	ADP	IN	_	64	case	_	_
62	spiders	spider	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	64	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
63	’	's	PART	POS	_	62	case	_	_
64	webs	web	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	nmod	_	_
65	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	66	cc	_	_
66	embroidered	embroider	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	64	conj	_	_
67	with	with	ADP	IN	_	70	case	_	_
68	bats	bat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	70	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
69	’	's	PART	POS	_	68	case	_	_
70	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	66	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
71	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | Mayblossom |  |  |  |  | as a immense army of crows and rooks and ravens and screech owls; a terrific croaking *obl*; about, follow *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hear** | past · passive |  | all birds of ill omen |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: subject=Stimulus |
| 3 | **skim up** | participle |  | a huge owl *not said here* |  |  |  | to the Princess | vn wipe\_manner-10.4.1 «NP V NP.source»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **throw** | past |  | a scarf woven of spiders's webs |  |  |  | over Princess | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent woven=Theme over she=Destination |
| 5 | **embroider** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | with bats's wings | vn image\_impression-25.1 «NP V NP.destination PP.theme»: agent=Agent with wing=Theme |
| 6 | **exemplify** |  | kingdoms *= kingdom* |  |  |  |  |  | nom example «cognition 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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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