---
title: Vivien, without losing his coolness, aimed a terrific blow at it wit… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Vivien, without losing his coolness, aimed a terrific blow at it with his sword, but no sooner did he touch the snake than it changed into a Giant and the Giant into a snake, with such rapidity that the Prince felt perfectly giddy, and this happened at least half-a-dozen times, until at last with a 
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 2, sentence 44

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Vivien, without losing his coolness, aimed a terrific blow at it with his sword, but no sooner did he touch the snake than it changed into a Giant and the Giant into a snake, with such rapidity that the Prince felt perfectly giddy, and this happened at least half-a-dozen times, until at last with a fortunate stroke he cut the serpent in halves, and picking up one morsel flung it with all his force at the nose of the Giant, who fell insensible on top of the lion, and in an instant a thick black cloud rolled up which hid them from view, and when it cleared away they had all disappeared.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** Vivien, snake, Prince, this, picking, force · **What happens:** lose, aim, touch, change, feel, happen · **To what, where:** coolness, terrific blow, blow, snake, such rapidity, half

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Vivien and the Princess Placida, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Vivien, snake, Prince, this), 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:pg7277:37:44
# text = Vivien, without losing his coolness, aimed a terrific blow at it with his sword, but no sooner did he touch the snake than it changed into a Giant and the Giant into a snake, with such rapidity that the Prince felt perfectly giddy, and this happened at least half-a-dozen times, until at last with a fortunate stroke he cut the serpent in halves, and picking up one morsel flung it with all his force at the nose of the Giant, who fell insensible on top of the lion, and in an instant a thick black cloud rolled up which hid them from view, and when it cleared away they had all disappeared.
1	Vivien	Vivien	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
3	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
4	losing	lose	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	1	acl	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	coolness	coolness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
8	aimed	aim	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	terrific	terrific	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	blow	blow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	at	at	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	obl	_	_
14	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	16	nmod:poss	_	_
16	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	23	cc	_	_
19	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	20	det	_	_
20	sooner	soon	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	23	advmod	_	_
21	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	aux	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	parataxis	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obj	_	_
26	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	28	mark	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	changed	change	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	advcl	_	_
29	into	into	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	Giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	obl	_	_
32	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	Giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	conj	_	_
35	into	into	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	snake	snake	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	such	such	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	rapidity	rapidity	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	obl	_	_
42	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	45	mark	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	Prince	Prince	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	45	nsubj	_	_
45	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	acl	_	_
46	perfectly	perfectly	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	giddy	giddy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	45	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	51	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	51	cc	_	_
50	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	51	nsubj	_	_
51	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
52	at	at	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
53	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	54	nmod	_	_
54	half	half	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing|NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	51	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	58	det	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	58	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	dozen	dozen	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	59	nummod	_	_
59	times	time	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	51	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	63	punct	_	_
61	until	until	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
62	at	at	ADP	IN	_	63	case	_	_
63	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	51	conj	_	_
64	with	with	ADP	IN	_	67	case	_	_
65	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	67	det	_	_
66	fortunate	fortunate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	67	amod	_	_
67	stroke	stroke	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	63	obl	_	_
68	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	69	nsubj	_	_
69	cut	cut	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	67	acl:relcl	_	_
70	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	71	det	_	_
71	serpent	serpent	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	69	obj	_	_
72	in	in	ADP	IN	_	73	case	_	_
73	halves	half	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	69	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
74	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	80	punct	_	_
75	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	80	cc	_	_
76	picking	pick	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	80	csubj	_	_
77	up	up	ADP	RP	_	76	compound:prt	_	_
78	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	79	nummod	_	_
79	morsel	morsel	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	76	obj	_	_
80	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
81	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	80	obj	_	_
82	with	with	ADP	IN	_	85	case	_	_
83	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	85	det:predet	_	_
84	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	85	nmod:poss	_	_
85	force	force	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	80	obl	_	_
86	at	at	ADP	IN	_	88	case	_	_
87	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	88	det	_	_
88	nose	nose	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	85	nmod	_	_
89	of	of	ADP	IN	_	91	case	_	_
90	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	91	det	_	_
91	Giant	giant	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	88	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
92	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	94	punct	_	_
93	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	94	nsubj	_	_
94	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	85	acl:relcl	_	_
95	insensible	insensible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	94	xcomp	_	_
96	on	on	ADP	IN	_	97	case	_	_
97	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	94	obl	_	_
98	of	of	ADP	IN	_	100	case	_	_
99	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	100	det	_	_
100	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	97	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
101	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	126	punct	_	_
102	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	126	cc	_	_
103	in	in	ADP	IN	_	105	case	_	_
104	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	105	det	_	_
105	instant	instant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	126	obl	_	_
106	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	109	det	_	_
107	thick	thick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	109	amod	_	_
108	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	109	amod	_	_
109	cloud	cloud	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	126	nsubj	_	_
110	rolled	roll	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	109	acl	_	_
111	up	up	ADP	RP	_	110	compound:prt	_	_
112	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	113	nsubj	_	_
113	hid	hide	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	109	acl:relcl	_	_
114	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	113	obj	_	_
115	from	from	ADP	IN	_	116	case	_	_
116	view	view	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	113	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
117	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	126	punct	_	_
118	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	126	cc	_	_
119	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	121	advmod	_	_
120	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	121	nsubj	_	_
121	cleared	clear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	126	advcl	_	_
122	away	away	ADV	RB	_	121	advmod	_	_
123	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	126	nsubj	_	_
124	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	126	aux	_	_
125	all	all	ADV	RB	_	126	advmod	_	_
126	disappeared	disappear	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
127	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **lose** | gerund | Vivien *not said here* | Vivien's coolness |  |  |  |  | vn succeed-74-3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent coolness=Eventuality |
| 2 | **aim** | past | Vivien | a terrific blow |  | blow |  | with Vivien's sword | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot blow=Theme |
| 3 | **touch** | past · do-support | Vivien | the snake |  |  |  | with such rapidity; soon *property* | vn touch-20-1 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent snake=Experiencer with rapidity=Instrument |
| 4 | **change** | past | snake |  |  |  |  | into a Giant *result* | vn turn-26.6.1-1 «NP.patient V PP.result»: agent=Patient into giant=Result |
| 5 | **feel** | past | the Prince | such rapidity *not said here* |  |  |  | giddy *property* | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent rapidity=Theme |
| 6 | **happen** | past | this | half |  | least | time |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **cut** | past | Prince | the serpent |  | halves |  |  | vn build-26.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent serpent=Product |
| 8 | **pick up** | gerund |  | one morsel |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent morsel=Topic |
| 9 | **fling** | past | picking | serpent |  |  |  | with Prince's force at the nose of the Giant | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 10 | **fall** | past | Prince's force at the nose of the Giant |  |  | top of the lion |  | insensible *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme on top=Location |
| 11 | **roll up** | participle |  | a thick black cloud *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 12 | **hide** | past | a thick black cloud | ships *= ship* |  | view |  |  | vn concealment-16-1 «NP V NP PP.beneficiary»: agent=Agent they=Patient from view=Beneficiary |
| 13 | **clear away** | past | cloud |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn clear-10.3-1 «NP.Source V»: agent=Source |
| 14 | **disappear** | past · perfect | a thick black cloud |  |  | a instant |  | all *property* | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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