---
title: I had retreated but a few paces when I observed, between me and the… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: I had retreated but a few paces when I observed, between me and the light, the figure of a tall black man standing in the entrance. Who acts: I, tall black man. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen., with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of 
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Black Thief and Knight of the Glen., sentence 93

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I had retreated but a few paces when I observed, between me and the light, the figure of a tall black man standing in the entrance.

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**Who acts:** I, tall black man · **What happens:** retreat, observe, stand, figure · **To what, where:** entrance, tall black man

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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 (I, tall black man), 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:pg540:8:93
# text = I had retreated but a few paces when I observed, between me and the light, the figure of a tall black man standing in the entrance.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	aux	_	_
3	retreated	retreat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
4	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	paces	pace	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	3	conj	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
9	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
10	observed	observe	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	between	between	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	obl	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	light	light	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	figure	figure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	appos	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
22	tall	tall	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
23	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
25	standing	stand	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	24	acl	_	_
26	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	entrance	entrance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **retreat** | past · perfect | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 2 | **observe** | past | I |  |  |  |  | between me | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **stand** | gerund | a tall black man *not said here* |  |  | the entrance |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in entrance=Location |
| 4 | **figure** |  |  | a tall black man |  |  |  |  | nom figure «communication transitive»: of=patient |

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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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