---
title: But he had hardly swallowed two plums when, to his horror, he felt a… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But he had hardly swallowed two plums when, to his horror, he felt as if something was growing on his forehead. Who acts: John, something. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Little Soldier, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Little Soldier, sentence 248

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But he had hardly swallowed two plums when, to his horror, he felt as if something was growing on his forehead.

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**Who acts:** John, something · **What happens:** swallow, feel, grow · **To what, where:** John, forehead

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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 (John, something), 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:pg7277:22:248
# text = But he had hardly swallowed two plums when, to his horror, he felt as if something was growing on his forehead.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	swallowed	swallow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	7	nummod	_	_
7	plums	plum	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obj	_	_
8	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
10	to	to	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	horror	horror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
16	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
17	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
18	something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	20	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	growing	grow	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	15	advcl	_	_
21	on	on	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	forehead	forehead	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **swallow** | past · perfect · passive |  | John |  |  |  | hardly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **feel** | past | John |  |  |  |  | to John's horror | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ PP.experiencer»: agent=Stimulus to horror=Experiencer |
| 3 | **grow** | past · progressive | something |  |  | John's forehead |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on forehead=Location |

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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 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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