---
title: How long this fearful stillness lasted I do not know, but the prince… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: How long this fearful stillness lasted I do not know, but the prince gradually felt his heart turning to ice, his hair stood up like bristles, and a cold chill was creeping down his spine, when at last--oh, ecstasy!--a faint noise broke on his straining ears, and this life of shadows suddenly became
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Grateful Prince, part 1, sentence 69

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
How long this fearful stillness lasted I do not know, but the prince gradually felt his heart turning to ice, his hair stood up like bristles, and a cold chill was creeping down his spine, when at last--oh, ecstasy!--a faint noise broke on his straining ears, and this life of shadows suddenly became real.

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**Who acts:** fearful stillness, I, prince, heart, hair, cold chill · **What happens:** last, not know, feel, turn, stand up, creep down · **To what, where:** heart, ice, spine, straining ears

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Grateful Prince, 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 (fearful stillness, I, prince, heart), 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:pg641:9:69
# text = How long this fearful stillness lasted I do not know, but the prince gradually felt his heart turning to ice, his hair stood up like bristles, and a cold chill was creeping down his spine, when at last--oh, ecstasy!--a faint noise broke on his straining ears, and this life of shadows suddenly became real.
1	How	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	2	advmod	_	_
2	long	long	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	6	advmod	_	_
3	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	5	det	_	_
4	fearful	fearful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	stillness	stillness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	lasted	last	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	know	know	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	prince	prince	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
15	gradually	gradually	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	turning	turn	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	18	acl	_	_
20	to	to	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	ice	ice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	24	nmod:poss	_	_
24	hair	hair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
26	up	up	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
27	like	like	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	bristles	bristle	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
30	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	cold	cold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	chill	chill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
34	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	creeping	creep	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	advcl	_	_
36	down	down	ADP	RP	_	35	compound:prt	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	spine	spine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	42	advmod	_	_
41	at	at	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	46	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	oh	oh	INTJ	UH	_	46	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	44	punct	_	_
46	ecstasy	ecstasy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	42	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
49	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
50	faint	faint	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	amod	_	_
51	noise	noise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nsubj	_	_
52	broke	break	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
53	on	on	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
54	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
55	straining	straining	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	compound	_	_
56	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	52	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	64	punct	_	_
58	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	64	cc	_	_
59	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	60	det	_	_
60	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	64	nsubj	_	_
61	of	of	ADP	IN	_	62	case	_	_
62	shadows	shadow	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	60	nmod	_	_
63	suddenly	suddenly	ADV	RB	_	64	advmod	_	_
64	became	become	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
65	real	real	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	64	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
66	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **last** | past | this fearful stillness |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **know** | present · do-support | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 3 | **feel** | past | the prince | prince's heart |  |  |  | gradually *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heart=Theme |
| 4 | **turn** | gerund | prince's heart *not said here* |  |  | ice |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme to ice=Trajectory |
| 5 | **stand up** | past | prince's hair |  |  |  |  | like bristles | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **creep down** | past · progressive | a cold chill | prince's spine |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Initial\_Location spine=Theme |
| 7 | **break** | past | a faint noise |  |  | prince's straining ears |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on ear=Location |
| 8 | **become** | past | this life of shadows |  |  |  |  | real, suddenly *property* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient |

<!-- .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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