---
title: Not knowing how to catch it, he collected all the wood he could find… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Not knowing how to catch it, he collected all the wood he could find and made a circle of fire round the ox, who by this time had fallen asleep, and did not wake till the fire had caught its head, and it was too late for it to escape. Who acts: son, ox, rope. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» b
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/26/127/)

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 26, sentence 127

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Not knowing how to catch it, he collected all the wood he could find and made a circle of fire round the ox, who by this time had fallen asleep, and did not wake till the fire had caught its head, and it was too late for it to escape.

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**Who acts:** son, ox, rope · **What happens:** not know, catch, collect, find, make, fall · **To what, where:** rope, wood, circle, fire

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (son, ox, rope), 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:pg2435:26:127
# text = Not knowing how to catch it, he collected all the wood he could find and made a circle of fire round the ox, who by this time had fallen asleep, and did not wake till the fire had caught its head, and it was too late for it to escape.
1	Not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	2	advmod	_	_
2	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
3	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	5	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	xcomp	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	collected	collect	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	12	det:predet	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	wood	wood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obj	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
14	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	15	aux	_	_
15	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	acl:relcl	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
18	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
19	circle	circle	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	of	of	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
21	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	nmod	_	_
22	round	round	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	ox	ox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	31	nsubj	_	_
27	by	by	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	29	det	_	_
29	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	_
30	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	fallen	fall	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	24	acl:relcl	_	_
32	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	aux	_	_
36	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	37	advmod	_	_
37	wake	wake	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
38	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	42	mark	_	_
39	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
40	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj:pass	_	_
41	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
42	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	37	advcl	_	_
43	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
47	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
48	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	50	cop	_	_
49	too	too	ADV	RB	_	50	advmod	_	_
50	late	late	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	parataxis	_	_
51	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	54	mark	_	_
52	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	54	nsubj	_	_
53	to	to	PART	TO	_	54	mark	_	_
54	escape	escape	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	50	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **know** | gerund | son *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 2 | **catch** | to-infinitive | son *not said here* | rope |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 3 | **collect** | past | son | all wood |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wood=Theme |
| 4 | **find** | could | son | all wood *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wood=Topic |
| 5 | **make** | past | son *not said here* | a circle of fire |  |  |  | round the ox | vn build-26.1-1 «NP.asset V NP»: agent=Asset circle=Product |
| 6 | **fall** | past · perfect | the ox |  |  |  | time | asleep *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **not** **wake** | past · do-support | son *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient |
| 8 | **catch** | past · perfect · passive |  | the fire |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: subject=Beneficiary head=Theme |
| 9 | **is** | past | rope |  |  |  |  | late *property* | tree rules |
| 10 | **escape** | to-infinitive | rope |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «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 Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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