---
title: Seeing they did not appear in any formidable shape, I was more than… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Seeing they did not appear in any formidable shape, I was more than once resolved to attack them, thinking that with my broad sword I could easily destroy them. Who acts: shapes, I. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen., with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen., sentence 76

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Seeing they did not appear in any formidable shape, I was more than once resolved to attack them, thinking that with my broad sword I could easily destroy them.

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**Who acts:** shapes, I · **What happens:** see, not appear, be, resolve, attack, think · **To what, where:** formidable shape, shapes · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (shapes, I), 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:pg540:8:76
# text = Seeing they did not appear in any formidable shape, I was more than once resolved to attack them, thinking that with my broad sword I could easily destroy them.
1	Seeing	see	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	5	amod	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	appear	appear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	9	det	_	_
8	formidable	formidable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	shape	shape	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
11	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
12	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
13	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	5	obj	_	_
14	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
15	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	16	advmod	_	_
16	resolved	resolve	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	advcl	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	attack	attack	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	xcomp	_	_
19	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
21	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	18	advcl	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
23	with	with	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	26	nmod:poss	_	_
25	broad	broad	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
27	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
28	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	easily	easily	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	ccomp	_	_
31	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **not** **appear** | past · do-support | shapes *= shape* |  |  | any formidable shape |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in shape=Location |
| 3 | **is** | past | I |  |  |  |  | more *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **resolve** | participle | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | once *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **attack** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* | shapes *= shape* |  |  |  |  | vn attack-60.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | gerund | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 7 | **destroy** | could | I | shapes *= shape* |  |  |  | with my broad sword; easily *property* | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent they=Patient with sword=Instrument |

<!-- .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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