---
title: A huge black cloud passed over his head, but in vain did he beg and… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: A huge black cloud passed over his head, but in vain did he beg and beseech her to let a drop of water fall on him. Who acts: youth. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Glass Mountain(16), part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Glass Mountain(16), part 1, sentence 29

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A huge black cloud passed over his head, but in vain did he beg and beseech her to let a drop of water fall on him.

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**Who acts:** youth · **What happens:** pass, beg, beseech, let, fall · **To what, where:** huge black cloud, head, vain, mouth, drop

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Glass Mountain(16), part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (youth), 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:pg640:22:29
# text = A huge black cloud passed over his head, but in vain did he beg and beseech her to let a drop of water fall on him.
1	A	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
3	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	cloud	cloud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
5	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	acl	_	_
6	over	over	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	8	nmod:poss	_	_
8	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
11	in	in	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	vain	vain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	obl	_	_
13	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	beg	beg	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	parataxis	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	beseech	beseech	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	conj	_	_
18	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	obj	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	advcl	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	drop	drop	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	_
25	fall	fall	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	parataxis	_	_
26	on	on	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | participle |  | a huge black cloud *not said here* |  | youth's head |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme over head=Location |
| 2 | **beg** *speech: request* | past · do-support | youth |  |  | vain |  |  | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V PP.Topic»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **beseech** | infinitive | youth *not said here* | mouth |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **let** | to-infinitive | youth *not said here* | a drop |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent drop=Theme |
| 5 | **fall** | present |  |  |  |  |  | of water; on youth | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on he=Location |

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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 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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