---
title: So he grasped the sword which he had got from the old crook-backed w… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So he grasped the sword which he had got from the old crook-backed woman, and slashed at the Troll so that all five heads went flying away over the sands. Who acts: Minnikin, five heads. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Mother Holle, part 2, sentence 25

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So he grasped the sword which he had got from the old crook-backed woman, and slashed at the Troll so that all five heads went flying away over the sands.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Minnikin, five heads · **What happens:** grasp, get, back, slash, go, fly away · **To what, where:** sword, sands

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Mother Holle, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Minnikin, five heads), 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:pg540:45:25
# text = So he grasped the sword which he had got from the old crook-backed woman, and slashed at the Troll so that all five heads went flying away over the sands.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	grasped	grasp	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
6	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	9	obl	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
8	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
9	got	get	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	5	acl:relcl	_	_
10	from	from	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
12	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
13	crook	crook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	backed	back	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	amod	_	_
16	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
19	slashed	slash	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	3	conj	_	_
20	at	at	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	Troll	troll	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
23	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	28	mark	_	_
24	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	23	fixed	_	_
25	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	27	det	_	_
26	five	five	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	27	nummod	_	_
27	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nsubj	_	_
28	went	go	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
29	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	28	xcomp	_	_
30	away	away	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
31	over	over	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	sands	sand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grasp** | past | Minnikin | the sword |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer sword=Stimulus |
| 2 | **get** | past · perfect | Minnikin | the sword |  |  |  | from the old backed woman | vn escape-51.1 «NP V PP.destination»: agent=Theme from woman=Destination |
| 3 | **back** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **slash** | participle | Minnikin *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at the Troll | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at troll=Patient |
| 5 | **go** | past | all five heads |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **fly away** | gerund | all five heads *not said here* |  |  | the sands |  | away *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme over sand=Location |

<!-- .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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