---
title: At such an unexpected sight many men would have turned and run for t… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: At such an unexpected sight many men would have turned and run for their lives; but the little soldier, though he was so small, had a true soldier’s heart. Who acts: many men, soldier. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Soldier, with its dependency tree and the pragmatic
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Little Soldier, sentence 19

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At such an unexpected sight many men would have turned and run for their lives; but the little soldier, though he was so small, had a true soldier’s heart.

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**Who acts:** many men, soldier · **What happens:** turn, run, be, have · **To what, where:** unexpected sight, heart

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Soldier. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (many men, soldier), 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:pg7277:22:19
# text = At such an unexpected sight many men would have turned and run for their lives; but the little soldier, though he was so small, had a true soldier’s heart.
1	At	at	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
2	such	such	DET	PDT	PronType=Ind	5	det:predet	_	_
3	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	unexpected	unexpected	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	_
6	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	men	man	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	10	aux	_	_
10	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	12	cc	_	_
12	run	run	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	conj	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
15	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	20	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
19	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
25	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
28	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	parataxis	_	_
29	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	true	true	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
31	soldier	soldier	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	’s	's	PART	POS	_	31	case	_	_
33	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	10	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **turn** | would · perfect | many men |  |  | such unexpected sight |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V PP.trajectory»: agent=Theme at sight=Trajectory |
| 2 | **run** | present | many men *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for men's lives | vn preparing-26.3-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent for life=Beneficiary |
| 3 | **is** | past | soldier |  |  |  |  | small *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** | past |  | a true soldier's heart |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent heart=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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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