---
title: Then just as he was going to fire at him, it occurred to him that th… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: Then just as he was going to fire at him, it occurred to him that the wolf might have devoured the grandmother, and that she might still be saved, so he did not fire, but took a pair of scissors, and began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf. Who acts: wolf, fire. A sentence of «Grimms' Fai
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, Little Red-cap \[little Red Riding Hood\], sentence 49

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then just as he was going to fire at him, it occurred to him that the wolf might have devoured the grandmother, and that she might still be saved, so he did not fire, but took a pair of scissors, and began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** wolf, fire · **What happens:** go, occur, devour, save, do, take · **To what, where:** fire, wolf, grandmother, pair, stomach

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Little Red-cap \[little Red Riding Hood\]. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wolf, fire), 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:pg2591:23:49
# text = Then just as he was going to fire at him, it occurred to him that the wolf might have devoured the grandmother, and that she might still be saved, so he did not fire, but took a pair of scissors, and began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
2	just	just	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	6	mark	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	going	go	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	advcl	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	xcomp	_	_
9	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
10	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj	_	_
13	occurred	occur	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
14	to	to	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obl	_	_
16	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
18	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj:pass	_	_
19	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
20	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	aux	_	_
21	devoured	devour	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	advcl	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	grandmother	grandmother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
27	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
28	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
29	still	still	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
30	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	31	aux:pass	_	_
31	saved	save	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	21	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	so	so	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
34	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
35	did	do	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
36	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	37	advmod	_	_
37	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	parataxis	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	pair	pair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	40	obj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	44	case	_	_
44	scissors	scissors	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	47	cc	_	_
47	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	40	conj	_	_
48	to	to	PART	TO	_	49	mark	_	_
49	cut	cut	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	47	xcomp	_	_
50	open	open	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	49	xcomp	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	stomach	stomach	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obj	_	_
53	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
55	sleeping	sleeping	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	compound	_	_
56	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	52	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	13	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **go** | past · progressive | wolf | fire |  |  | then | at huntsman | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme at he=Location |
| 2 | **occur** | past | fire |  | wolf |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **devour** | might · perfect · passive |  | the wolf |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **save** | might · passive |  | grandmother |  |  | still |  | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **do** | past | wolf | fire |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fire=Eventuality |
| 6 | **take** | past |  | a pair of scissors |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent pair=Theme |
| 7 | **begin** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 8 | **cut** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 9 | **open** | infinitive |  | the stomach of the sleeping wolf |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location stomach=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:** «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 2591 (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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