--- title: The wind was blowing fiercely across the land, and the clouds flying… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The wind was blowing fiercely across the land, and the clouds flying across the sky looked as gloomy as if it were night; the leaves were being blown from the trees; the water was foaming and seething and dashing upon the shore, and in the distance he saw the ships in great distress, dancing and tos --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/54/155/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Green Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/) / [The Story of the Fisherman and His Wife](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/54/) / 155 # The Green Fairy Book, The Story of the Fisherman and His Wife, sentence 155 The wind was blowing fiercely across the land, and the clouds flying across the sky looked as gloomy as if it were night; the leaves were being blown from the trees; the water was foaming and seething and dashing upon the shore, and in the distance he saw the ships in great distress, dancing and tossing on the waves. **Who acts:** wind, clouds, sky, water · **What happens:** blow, fly, look, be, foam, seethe · **To what, where:** land, sky, leaves, shore, ships, great distress This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of the Fisherman and His Wife. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wind, clouds, sky, water), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg7277:54:155 # text = The wind was blowing fiercely across the land, and the clouds flying across the sky looked as gloomy as if it were night; the leaves were being blown from the trees; the water was foaming and seething and dashing upon the shore, and in the distance he saw the ships in great distress, dancing and tossing on the waves. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 wind wind NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 nsubj _ _ 3 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 aux _ _ 4 blowing blow VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 5 fiercely fiercely ADV RB _ 4 advmod _ _ 6 across across ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 8 land land NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 10 and and CCONJ CC _ 17 cc _ _ 11 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 12 det _ _ 12 clouds cloud NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 nsubj _ _ 13 flying fly VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 12 acl _ _ 14 across across ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 15 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 16 sky sky NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obl _ _ 17 looked look VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 18 as as ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 19 gloomy gloomy ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 17 xcomp _ _ 20 as as ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 21 if if SCONJ IN _ 24 mark _ _ 22 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 24 nsubj _ _ 23 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 24 cop _ _ 24 night night NOUN NN Number=Sing 19 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 ; ; PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 leaves leaf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 nsubj:pass _ _ 28 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 aux:pass _ _ 29 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 30 aux:pass _ _ 30 blown blow VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 17 conj _ _ 31 from from ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 32 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 33 det _ _ 33 trees tree NOUN NNS Number=Plur 30 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 34 ; ; PUNCT : _ 38 punct _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 water water NOUN NN Number=Sing 38 nsubj _ _ 37 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 38 foaming foam VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 4 conj _ _ 39 and and CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 40 seething seethe VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 38 conj _ _ 41 and and CCONJ CC _ 42 cc _ _ 42 dashing dash VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 38 conj _ _ 43 upon upon ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 44 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 45 shore shore NOUN NN Number=Sing 42 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 , , PUNCT , _ 52 punct _ _ 47 and and CCONJ CC _ 52 cc _ _ 48 in in ADP IN _ 50 case _ _ 49 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 50 det _ _ 50 distance distance NOUN NN Number=Sing 52 obl _ _ 51 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 52 nsubj _ _ 52 saw see VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 parataxis _ _ 53 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 54 det _ _ 54 ships ship NOUN NNS Number=Plur 52 obj _ _ 55 in in ADP IN _ 57 case _ _ 56 great great ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 57 amod _ _ 57 distress distress NOUN NN Number=Sing 54 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 58 , , PUNCT , _ 59 punct _ _ 59 dancing dance VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 52 conj _ _ 60 and and CCONJ CC _ 61 cc _ _ 61 tossing toss VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 59 conj _ _ 62 on on ADP IN _ 64 case _ _ 63 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 64 det _ _ 64 waves wave NOUN NNS Number=Plur 61 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 65 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **blow** | past · progressive | the wind | | | the land | | fiercely *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient | | 2 | **fly** | gerund | the clouds *not said here* | | | the sky | | | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme across sky=Trajectory | | 3 | **look** | past | the clouds | | | | | gloomy *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus | | 4 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | sky | | | | as night | | tree rules | | 5 | **blow** | past · passive | | the leaves | | | | from the trees | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP PP.co-patient»: subject=Patient from tree=Co-Patient | | 6 | **foam** | past · progressive | the water | | | | | | vn entity\_specific\_modes\_being-47.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 7 | **seethe** | gerund | the water *not said here* | | | | | | vn bulge-47.5.3 «NP V»: agent=Location | | 8 | **dash** | gerund | the water *not said here* | | | the shore | | | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme upon shore=Trajectory | | 9 | **see** | past | wind | the ships | | great distress | | in the distance | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer ship=Stimulus | | 10 | **dance** | gerund | wind *not said here* | | | | | | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 11 | **toss** | gerund | wind *not said here* | | | the waves | | | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent on wave=Destination | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 154](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/54/154/) - next →: [sentence 156](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/54/156/) - ↑ back to [The Story of the Fisherman and His Wife](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg7277/54/)