---
title: The door of the pit was hardly closed when the bear rushed at the sh… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The door of the pit was hardly closed when the bear rushed at the shepherd; but when it saw his eyes it was so frightened that it was ready to eat itself. Who acts: bear, it. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragm
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 3, sentence 87

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The door of the pit was hardly closed when the bear rushed at the shepherd; but when it saw his eyes it was so frightened that it was ready to eat itself.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** bear, it · **What happens:** close, rush, see, be, eat · **To what, where:** door, eyes, bear

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bear, it), 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:pg2435:3:87
# text = The door of the pit was hardly closed when the bear rushed at the shepherd; but when it saw his eyes it was so frightened that it was ready to eat itself.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	pit	pit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	nmod	_	_
6	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux:pass	_	_
7	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	closed	close	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
9	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
12	rushed	rush	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
13	at	at	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	shepherd	shepherd	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
19	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	eyes	eye	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obj	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
25	so	so	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	frightened	frightened	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	parataxis	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	ready	ready	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	advcl	_	_
31	to	to	PART	TO	_	32	mark	_	_
32	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	xcomp	_	_
33	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	32	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **close** | past · passive |  | the door of the pit |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **rush** | past | the bear |  |  |  |  | at the shepherd | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at shepherd=Trajectory |
| 3 | **see** | past | bear | shepherd's eyes |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer eye=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is** | past | bear |  |  |  |  | frightened *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | ready *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **eat** | to-infinitive |  | bear |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent itself=Patient |

<!-- .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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