---
title: So when the soldiers landed they could see nothing, but the Princess… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So when the soldiers landed they could see nothing, but the Princess touched them one after another with the dagger, and they fell insensible upon the sand, so that at last the Admiral, seeing that there was some enchantment, hastily gave orders for a retreat to be sounded, and got his men back into
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Princess Mayblossom, part 3, sentence 10

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So when the soldiers landed they could see nothing, but the Princess touched them one after another with the dagger, and they fell insensible upon the sand, so that at last the Admiral, seeing that there was some enchantment, hastily gave orders for a retreat to be sounded, and got his men back into their boats in great confusion.

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**Who acts:** soldiers, Princess, enchantment · **What happens:** land, see, touch, fall, be, give · **To what, where:** nothing, soldiers, last Admiral, orders, men, boats · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Princess Mayblossom, 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 (soldiers, Princess, enchantment), 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:pg540:5:10
# text = So when the soldiers landed they could see nothing, but the Princess touched them one after another with the dagger, and they fell insensible upon the sand, so that at last the Admiral, seeing that there was some enchantment, hastily gave orders for a retreat to be sounded, and got his men back into their boats in great confusion.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	soldiers	soldier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	landed	land	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
8	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	ccomp	_	_
9	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	Princess	Princess	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
15	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	obj	_	_
16	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	obj	_	_
17	after	after	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	16	nmod	_	_
19	with	with	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	dagger	dagger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
25	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
26	insensible	insensible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	xcomp	_	_
27	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	sand	sand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
31	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	25	obl	_	_
33	at	at	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
34	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	Admiral	Admiral	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
38	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	25	advcl	_	_
39	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
40	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	41	expl	_	_
41	was	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	ccomp	_	_
42	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	43	det	_	_
43	enchantment	enchantment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	_
45	hastily	hastily	ADV	RB	_	46	advmod	_	_
46	gave	give	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
47	orders	order	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	46	obj	_	_
48	for	for	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	retreat	retreat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	obl	_	_
51	to	to	PART	TO	_	53	mark	_	_
52	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	aux:pass	_	_
53	sounded	sound	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	46	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	_
55	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	56	cc	_	_
56	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
57	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	58	nmod:poss	_	_
58	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	obj	_	_
59	back	back	ADV	RB	_	56	advmod	_	_
60	into	into	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
61	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	62	nmod:poss	_	_
62	boats	boat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	56	obl	_	_
63	in	in	ADP	IN	_	65	case	_	_
64	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	65	amod	_	_
65	confusion	confusion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **land** | past | the soldiers |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | could | soldiers *= soldier* | nothing |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus |
| 3 | **touch** | past | the Princess | soldiers *= soldier* |  |  |  | with the dagger | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer one=Result |
| 4 | **fall** | past | Princess |  |  | the last Admiral |  | so that; insensible *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at admiral=Location |
| 5 | **see** | gerund | Princess *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **be** | past | some enchantment |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **give** | past | the soldiers *not said here* | orders |  |  |  | for a retreat; hastily *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP PP.asset»: agent=Agent order=Theme for retreat=Asset |
| 8 | **sound** | to-infinitive · passive | the soldiers *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute» |
| 9 | **get back** | past | the soldiers *not said here* | enchantment's men |  | Princess's boats in great confusion |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer man=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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