---
title: The fox and the tanuki were very clever, prudent beasts, and they al… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The fox and the tanuki were very clever, prudent beasts, and they also were skilled in magic, and by this means had escaped the fate of their unfortunate friends. Who acts: fox, this. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32, with its dependency tree and
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32, sentence 18

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The fox and the tanuki were very clever, prudent beasts, and they also were skilled in magic, and by this means had escaped the fate of their unfortunate friends.

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**Who acts:** fox, this · **What happens:** be, skill, mean, escape, fate · **To what, where:** beasts, magic, fate, unfortunate friends

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fox, this), 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:pg2435:32:18
# text = The fox and the tanuki were very clever, prudent beasts, and they also were skilled in magic, and by this means had escaped the fate of their unfortunate friends.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
3	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	tanuki	tanuki	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	_
6	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	prudent	prudent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	beasts	beast	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
14	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	also	also	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
16	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	skilled	skill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	8	parataxis	_	_
18	in	in	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
19	magic	magic	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
22	by	by	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
23	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	24	nsubj	_	_
24	means	mean	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	26	advcl	_	_
25	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
26	escaped	escape	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	8	parataxis	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	fate	fate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obj	_	_
29	of	of	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	unfortunate	unfortunate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the fox and the tanuki |  |  |  |  | prudent beasts *obl*; clever *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **skill** | past · passive |  | beasts *= beast* |  | magic |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **mean** | present | this |  |  |  |  |  | vn intend-61.2-1 «NP V S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **escape** | past · perfect |  | the fate of beasts's unfortunate friends |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme fate=Initial\_Location |
| 5 | **fate** |  |  | beasts's unfortunate friends |  |  |  |  | nom fate «event transitive»: of=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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