---
title: The Caliph and Mansor looked on in surprise for some time; but when… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The Caliph and Mansor looked on in surprise for some time; but when at last she balanced herself in a picturesque attitude on one leg, and flapped her wings gracefully up and down, they could hold out no longer; a prolonged peal burst from each of their bills, and it was some time before they could 
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Story of Caliph Stork, sentence 71

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The Caliph and Mansor looked on in surprise for some time; but when at last she balanced herself in a picturesque attitude on one leg, and flapped her wings gracefully up and down, they could hold out no longer; a prolonged peal burst from each of their bills, and it was some time before they could recover their composure.

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**Who acts:** Caliph, Mansor, bill · **What happens:** look on, balance, flap, hold out, prolong, be · **To what, where:** Mansor, picturesque attitude, wings, time, composure

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Story of Caliph Stork. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Caliph, Mansor, bill), 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:pg7277:7:71
# text = The Caliph and Mansor looked on in surprise for some time; but when at last she balanced herself in a picturesque attitude on one leg, and flapped her wings gracefully up and down, they could hold out no longer; a prolonged peal burst from each of their bills, and it was some time before they could recover their composure.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	Caliph	Caliph	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	Mansor	Mansor	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
5	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	on	on	ADP	RP	_	5	compound:prt	_	_
7	in	in	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
9	for	for	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	11	det	_	_
11	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
13	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
14	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	16	advmod	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	_
17	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	balanced	balance	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
19	herself	herself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	18	obj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
22	picturesque	picturesque	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	amod	_	_
23	attitude	attitude	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	_
24	on	on	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	26	nummod	_	_
26	leg	leg	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	flapped	flap	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
30	her	her	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	wings	wing	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	_
32	gracefully	gracefully	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	up	up	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	down	down	ADV	RB	_	33	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
37	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	nsubj	_	_
38	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
39	hold	hold	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
40	out	out	ADP	RP	_	39	compound:prt	_	_
41	no	no	ADV	RB	_	42	advmod	_	_
42	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	39	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
43	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
45	prolonged	prolong	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	47	amod	_	_
46	peal	peal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	compound	_	_
47	burst	burst	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	parataxis	_	_
48	from	from	ADP	IN	_	49	case	_	_
49	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	47	nmod	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	52	nmod:poss	_	_
52	bills	bill	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	49	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
53	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	58	punct	_	_
54	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	58	cc	_	_
55	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	nsubj	_	_
56	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	58	cop	_	_
57	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	58	det	_	_
58	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	conj	_	_
59	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	62	mark	_	_
60	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	62	nsubj	_	_
61	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	62	aux	_	_
62	recover	recover	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	58	acl	_	_
63	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	64	nmod:poss	_	_
64	composure	composure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	62	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
65	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **look on** | past | the Caliph and Mansor |  |  |  | time | in surprise | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent in surprise=Theme |
| 2 | **balance** | past | Mansor | Mansor |  | a picturesque attitude |  | on one leg; last *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V NP.theme PP»: agent=Agent herself=Theme in attitude=Location |
| 3 | **flap** | past |  | Mansor's wings |  |  |  |  | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wing=Patient |
| 4 | **hold out** | could | Caliph |  |  |  |  | long *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **prolong** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sustain-55.6 «NP V NP PP.instrument»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **is a** | past | bill | some time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **recover** | could | Caliph | Caliph's composure |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent composure=Theme |
| 8 | **bill** |  | Caliph |  |  |  |  |  | nom bill «communication transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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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