---
title: But one of the good qualities which old Mr Fox had possessed, was al… — Grimms' Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But one of the good qualities which old Mr Fox had possessed, was always lacking, and the cat had continually to send the suitors away. Who acts: one, cat. A sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Second Story, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Grimms' Fairy Tales, Second Story, sentence 20

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But one of the good qualities which old Mr Fox had possessed, was always lacking, and the cat had continually to send the suitors away.

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**Who acts:** one, cat · **What happens:** possess, lack, have, send away · **To what, where:** old Mr Fox, suitors

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This is a sentence of «Grimms' Fairy Tales» by Jacob Grimm, Second Story. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (one, cat), 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:pg2591:55:20
# text = But one of the good qualities which old Mr Fox had possessed, was always lacking, and the cat had continually to send the suitors away.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
2	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	16	nsubj	_	_
3	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	qualities	quality	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	2	nmod	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	12	obj	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
9	Mr	Mr	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	possessed	possess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
15	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	16	advmod	_	_
16	lacking	lack	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	_
22	continually	continually	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
23	to	to	PART	TO	_	24	mark	_	_
24	send	send	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	xcomp	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	suitors	suitor	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
27	away	away	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **possess** | past · perfect · passive |  | old Mr Fox |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **lack** | past · progressive | one of the good qualities |  |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past | the cat |  |  |  |  | continually *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **send away** | to-infinitive | the cat *not said here* | the suitors |  |  |  | away *property* | vn fire-10.10 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent suitor=Theme |

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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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