---
title: The Herd-boy was so taken aback by his words, that he stood tremblin… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The Herd-boy was so taken aback by his words, that he stood trembling before him, and did not dare to explain his presence. Who acts: words, BOY. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Beasts(11), part 2, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Grateful Beasts(11), part 2, sentence 98

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The Herd-boy was so taken aback by his words, that he stood trembling before him, and did not dare to explain his presence.

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**Who acts:** words, BOY · **What happens:** take, stand, tremble, not dare, not explain, word · **To what, where:** Herd boy, presence

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Beasts(11), 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 (words, BOY), 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:pg640:15:98
# text = The Herd-boy was so taken aback by his words, that he stood trembling before him, and did not dare to explain his presence.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	Herd	herd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
6	so	so	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	aback	aback	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
9	by	by	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
16	trembling	tremble	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	15	xcomp	_	_
17	before	before	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
23	dare	dare	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	15	parataxis	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	explain	explain	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	23	xcomp	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	presence	presence	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past · passive | BOY's words | the Herd boy |  |  |  | aback *property* | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP ADVP»: agent=Instrument subject=Destination |
| 2 | **stand** | past | BOY |  |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **tremble** | gerund | BOY *not said here* |  |  |  | before BOY |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme before he=Location |
| 4 | **not** **dare** | past · do-support |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 5 | **not** **explain** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive |  | BOY's presence |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent presence=Topic |
| 6 | **word** |  | BOY |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «communication 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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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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