---
title: If they prove shy, and refuse to let you get near them, draw out you… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If they prove shy, and refuse to let you get near them, draw out your knife, and let the sun shine on it so that the whole meadow is lit up by its rays, and the horses will then approach you of their own accord, and will let you lead them away. Who acts: horses, you, sun, rays. A sentence of «The Vi
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Enchanted Knife, sentence 18

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
If they prove shy, and refuse to let you get near them, draw out your knife, and let the sun shine on it so that the whole meadow is lit up by its rays, and the horses will then approach you of their own accord, and will let you lead them away.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** horses, you, sun, rays, meadow · **What happens:** prove, refuse, not let, get, draw out, let · **To what, where:** you, knife, sun, whole meadow, horses

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Enchanted Knife. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (horses, you, sun, rays), 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:pg641:23:18
# text = If they prove shy, and refuse to let you get near them, draw out your knife, and let the sun shine on it so that the whole meadow is lit up by its rays, and the horses will then approach you of their own accord, and will let you lead them away.
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	3	mark	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	prove	prove	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
4	shy	shy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	3	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	refuse	refuse	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	xcomp	_	_
10	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	9	obj	_	_
11	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	near	near	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
15	draw	draw	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
16	out	out	ADP	RP	_	15	compound:prt	_	_
17	your	your	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Person=2|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	knife	knife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	sun	sun	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	_
24	shine	shine	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
25	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	24	obl	_	_
27	so	so	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	meadow	meadow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	lit	lit	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	24	advcl	_	_
34	up	up	ADP	RP	_	33	compound:prt	_	_
35	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	rays	ray	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	horses	horse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	44	nsubj	_	_
42	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	44	aux	_	_
43	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	44	advmod	_	_
44	approach	approach	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	conj	_	_
45	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	44	obj	_	_
46	of	of	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
47	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
48	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	49	amod	_	_
49	accord	accord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
51	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
52	will	will	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	53	aux	_	_
53	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	_
54	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	53	obj	_	_
55	lead	lead	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	53	xcomp	_	_
56	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	55	obj	_	_
57	away	away	ADV	RB	_	55	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **prove** *a condition, not said to happen* | present | horses *= horse* |  |  |  |  | shy *property* | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **refuse** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **let** | to-infinitive | you *not said here* | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **get** | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  | near horses *= horse* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 5 | **draw out** | infinitive | you *not said here* | your knife |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent knife=Theme |
| 6 | **let** | infinitive | you *not said here* | the sun |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **shine** | infinitive | the sun *not said here* |  |  | sun |  |  | vn light\_emission-43.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on it=Location |
| 8 | **lit up** | present · passive | meadow's rays | the whole meadow |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **approach** | future | the horses | you |  |  | then | of horses's own accord | vn confront-98 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Theme |
| 10 | **let** | future | you *not said here* | you |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 11 | **lead away** | infinitive | you *not said here* | horses *= horse* |  |  |  | away *property* | vn accompany-51.7 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 12 | **ray** |  | meadow |  |  |  |  |  | nom ray «phenomenon transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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