--- title: There he was alive, but very weak; he could only open his eyes for a… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: There he was alive, but very weak; he could only open his eyes for a moment and look at Thumbelina, who was standing in front of him with a piece of rotten wood in her hand, for she had no other lantern. Who acts: thing, Thumbelina. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch in --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/47/177/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Witch in the Stone Boat(31)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/47/) / 177 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch in the Stone Boat(31), sentence 177 There he was alive, but very weak; he could only open his eyes for a moment and look at Thumbelina, who was standing in front of him with a piece of rotten wood in her hand, for she had no other lantern. **Who acts:** thing, Thumbelina · **What happens:** be, open, look, stand, have · **To what, where:** eyes, front, other lantern This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch in the Stone Boat(31). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (thing, Thumbelina), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg640:47:177 # text = There he was alive, but very weak; he could only open his eyes for a moment and look at Thumbelina, who was standing in front of him with a piece of rotten wood in her hand, for she had no other lantern. 1 There there PRON EX PronType=Dem 4 expl _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 cop _ _ 4 alive alive ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 6 but but CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 7 very very ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 8 weak weak ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 4 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 ; ; PUNCT : _ 13 punct _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 13 nsubj _ _ 11 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 13 aux _ _ 12 only only ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ _ 13 open open VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 parataxis _ _ 14 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 15 nmod:poss _ _ 15 eyes eye NOUN NNS Number=Plur 13 obj _ _ 16 for for ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 17 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 18 det _ _ 18 moment moment NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 19 and and CCONJ CC _ 20 cc _ _ 20 look look VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 conj _ _ 21 at at ADP IN _ 22 case _ _ 22 Thumbelina Thumbelina PROPN NNP Number=Sing 20 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 23 , , PUNCT , _ 26 punct _ _ 24 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 26 nsubj _ _ 25 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 aux _ _ 26 standing stand VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 22 acl _ _ 27 in in ADP IN _ 28 case _ _ 28 front front NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 29 of of ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 30 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 nmod _ _ 31 with with ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 piece piece NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ _ 34 of of ADP IN _ 36 case _ _ 35 rotten rotten ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 36 amod _ _ 36 wood wood NOUN NN Number=Sing 33 nmod _ _ 37 in in ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 38 her her PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 39 nmod:poss _ _ 39 hand hand NOUN NN Number=Sing 26 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 41 for for ADP IN _ 43 case _ _ 42 she she PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj _ _ 43 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 conj _ _ 44 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 46 det _ _ 45 other other ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 46 amod _ _ 46 lantern lantern NOUN NN Number=Sing 43 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **is** | past | thing | | | there | | alive *property* | tree rules | | 2 | **be** | | thing *not said here* | | | | | | tree rules | | 3 | **open** | could | thing | thing's eyes | | | moment | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location eye=Theme | | 4 | **look** | infinitive | thing *not said here* | | | | | at Thumbelina | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at thumbelina=Theme | | 5 | **stand** | past · progressive | Thumbelina | | | front of thing | | with a piece of rotten wood; in THUMBELINA's hand | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in front=Location | | 6 | **have** | past | THUMBELINA | no other lantern | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent lantern=Patient | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 176](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/47/176/) - next →: [sentence 178](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/47/178/) - ↑ back to [The Witch in the Stone Boat(31)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/47/)