---
title: In an instant the heavens seemed to darken round him and he was surr… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In an instant the heavens seemed to darken round him and he was surrounded by fire--fire to right of him, fire to left of him, fire to front of him, fire to rear of him; nothing but fire whichever way he looked, for the dragon’s seven heads were vomiting flame. Who acts: heavens, fire, Petru, seven 
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 1, sentence 64

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In an instant the heavens seemed to darken round him and he was surrounded by fire--fire to right of him, fire to left of him, fire to front of him, fire to rear of him; nothing but fire whichever way he looked, for the dragon’s seven heads were vomiting flame.

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**Who acts:** heavens, fire, Petru, seven heads · **What happens:** seem, darken, surround, rear, look, vomit · **To what, where:** instant, Petru, way, flame

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, 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 (heavens, fire, Petru, seven heads), 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:pg641:19:64
# text = In an instant the heavens seemed to darken round him and he was surrounded by fire--fire to right of him, fire to left of him, fire to front of him, fire to rear of him; nothing but fire whichever way he looked, for the dragon’s seven heads were vomiting flame.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	heavens	heaven	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	darken	darken	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	round	round	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj:pass	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux:pass	_	_
14	surrounded	surround	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	conj	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	conj	_	_
19	to	to	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	right	right	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
25	to	to	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	left	left	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nmod	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
30	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
31	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	front	front	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	36	punct	_	_
36	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
37	to	to	PART	TO	_	38	mark	_	_
38	rear	rear	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	36	acl	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
42	nothing	nothing	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Neg	20	conj	_	_
43	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
44	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	conj	_	_
45	whichever	whichever	DET	WDT	PronType=Rel	46	det	_	_
46	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	appos	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	46	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	57	punct	_	_
50	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	57	mark	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	dragon	dragon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	55	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	’s	's	PART	POS	_	52	case	_	_
54	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	55	nummod	_	_
55	heads	head	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	57	nsubj	_	_
56	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	57	aux	_	_
57	vomiting	vomit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	conj	_	_
58	flame	flame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	57	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
59	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | past | the heavens |  |  | a instant |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 2 | **darken** | to-infinitive | the heavens *not said here* |  |  |  |  | round Petru | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 3 | **surround** | past · passive | fire and fire | Petru |  |  |  | to right of heaven and fire to left of heaven and fire to front of heaven and fire | vn contiguous\_location-47.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme subject=Co-Theme |
| 4 | **rear** | to-infinitive | fire and fire *not said here* |  |  |  |  | of Petru | vn rear-26.2.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **look** | past | Petru | whichever way *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme way=Attribute |
| 6 | **vomit** | past · progressive | the dragon's seven heads | flame |  |  |  |  | vn breathe-40.1.2 «NP V NP.theme»: agent=Agent flame=Theme |

<!-- .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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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