---
title: One thing, however, held him back from this step which day by day he… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: One thing, however, held him back from this step which day by day he saw more clearly was the only one possible. Who acts: One thing, king. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 1, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, part 1, sentence 5

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One thing, however, held him back from this step which day by day he saw more clearly was the only one possible.

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**Who acts:** One thing, king · **What happens:** hold back, see, be · **To what, where:** king, day, only one

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Girl Who Pretended to Be a Boy, 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 (One thing, king), 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:pg641:38:5
# text = One thing, however, held him back from this step which day by day he saw more clearly was the only one possible.
1	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	nummod	_	_
2	thing	thing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:outer	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
4	however	however	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
6	held	hold	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	back	back	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
9	from	from	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	11	det	_	_
11	step	step	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
12	which	which	DET	WDT	PronType=Int	13	det	_	_
13	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl:unmarked	_	_
14	by	by	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nmod	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
18	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	19	advmod	_	_
19	clearly	clearly	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	only	only	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	_
24	possible	possible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hold back** | past | One thing | king |  |  |  | however *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent he=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | past | king | which day by day *not said here* |  |  |  | clearly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer day=Stimulus |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | the only one |  |  |  | from this step | 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 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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