--- title: Then he tried, at first only in play, and then seriously, to strike… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Then he tried, at first only in play, and then seriously, to strike her with the knife, but an invisible wall of iron seemed to be between them, and the maiden stood before him laughing and unhurt. Who acts: angel, invisible wall, maiden. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dra --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/117/) [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 Dragon of the North(2)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/) / 117 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Dragon of the North(2), sentence 117 Then he tried, at first only in play, and then seriously, to strike her with the knife, but an invisible wall of iron seemed to be between them, and the maiden stood before him laughing and unhurt. **Who acts:** angel, invisible wall, maiden · **What happens:** try, strike, seem, be, stand, laugh · **To what, where:** play, maiden This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Dragon of the North(2). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (angel, invisible wall, maiden), 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:pg640:5:117 # text = Then he tried, at first only in play, and then seriously, to strike her with the knife, but an invisible wall of iron seemed to be between them, and the maiden stood before him laughing and unhurt. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 3 advmod _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 tried try VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ SpaceAfter=No 4 , , PUNCT , _ 9 punct _ _ 5 at at ADP IN _ 6 case _ _ 6 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 9 obl _ _ 7 only only ADV RB _ 9 advmod _ _ 8 in in ADP IN _ 9 case _ _ 9 play play NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 10 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 11 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 12 then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 13 advmod _ _ 13 seriously seriously ADV RB _ 16 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 14 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 15 to to PART TO _ 16 mark _ _ 16 strike strike VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 3 conj _ _ 17 her she PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 16 obj _ _ 18 with with ADP IN _ 20 case _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 knife knife NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 21 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 22 but but CCONJ CC _ 28 cc _ _ 23 an a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 25 det _ _ 24 invisible invisible ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 25 amod _ _ 25 wall wall NOUN NN Number=Sing 28 nsubj _ _ 26 of of ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 iron iron NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nmod _ _ 28 seemed seem VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 29 to to PART TO _ 32 mark _ _ 30 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 32 cop _ _ 31 between between ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 28 xcomp _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 maiden maiden NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 nsubj _ _ 37 stood stand VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 38 before before ADP IN _ 39 case _ _ 39 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obl _ _ 40 laughing laugh VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 37 advcl _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 42 unhurt unhurt ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 40 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **try** | past | angel | play | | | then | | vn try-61.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent play=Eventuality | | 2 | **strike** | to-infinitive | angel *not said here* | maiden | | | | with the knife; seriously *property* | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent she=Patient with knife=Instrument | | 3 | **seem** | past | a invisible wall of iron | | | | | | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme | | 4 | **is** | to-infinitive | a invisible wall of iron *not said here* | | | | | between men *= man* | tree rules | | 5 | **stand** | past | the maiden | | | | before angel | | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent before he=Location | | 6 | **laugh** | gerund | the maiden *not said here* | | | | | | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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 116](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/116/) - next →: [sentence 118](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/118/) - ↑ back to [The Dragon of the North(2)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/5/)