---
title: Then it was as if a flash of lightning had passed through him; the d… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then it was as if a flash of lightning had passed through him; the daylight streamed in, and a voice exclaimed, ‘Why, here is the little Tin-soldier!’ Who acts: length, voice. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Steadfast Tin-soldier, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics
---

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# The Yellow Fairy Book, The Steadfast Tin-soldier, sentence 66

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then it was as if a flash of lightning had passed through him; the daylight streamed in, and a voice exclaimed, ‘Why, here is the little Tin-soldier!’

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**Who acts:** length, voice · **What happens:** be, pass, stream, exclaim · **To what, where:** flash, daylight, little Tin soldier

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This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Steadfast Tin-soldier. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (length, voice), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg640:50:66
# text = Then it was as if a flash of lightning had passed through him; the daylight streamed in, and a voice exclaimed, ‘Why, here is the little Tin-soldier!’
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	7	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
4	as	as	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	flash	flash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj:pass	_	_
8	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	lightning	lightning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nmod	_	_
10	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	advcl	_	_
12	through	through	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	16	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	daylight	daylight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	parataxis	_	_
17	streamed	stream	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	acl	_	_
18	in	in	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	voice	voice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nsubj	_	_
23	exclaimed	exclaim	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	26	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	11	advmod	_	_
29	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	cop	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
31	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
32	Tin	Tin	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	34	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	32	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	34	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | length |  |  |  | then | as a flash; of lightning | tree rules |
| 2 | **pass** | past · perfect · passive |  | a flash |  | here |  | through fish | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: subject=Theme through he=Destination |
| 3 | **stream** | participle |  | the daylight *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **exclaim** *speech: express* | participle | a voice |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **is a** | present |  | the little Tin soldier |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

<!-- .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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