---
title: When his hands were freed, the giant flung himself upon Petru, hopin… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: When his hands were freed, the giant flung himself upon Petru, hoping to crush him by his weight. Who acts: giant. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3, sentence 115

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When his hands were freed, the giant flung himself upon Petru, hoping to crush him by his weight.

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**Who acts:** giant · **What happens:** free, fling, hope, crush · **To what, where:** hands, giant

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Fairy of the Dawn, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (giant), 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:pg641:21:115
# text = When his hands were freed, the giant flung himself upon Petru, hoping to crush him by his weight.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	5	mark	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
5	freed	free	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	giant	giant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
10	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	9	obj	_	_
11	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	Petru	Petru	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	hoping	hope	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	crush	crush	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	weight	weight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **free** | past · passive |  | giant's hands |  |  |  |  | vn free-10.6.3-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Source |
| 2 | **fling** | past | the giant | giant |  |  |  | upon Petru | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent himself=Theme upon petru=Destination |
| 3 | **hope** | gerund | the giant *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn long-32.2 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 4 | **crush** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the giant *not said here* | giant |  |  |  | by giant's weight | vn carve-21.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Patient |

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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 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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