---
title: But the words were hardly out of his mouth when he found that it was… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the words were hardly out of his mouth when he found that it was a hare that he was holding by the paw. Who acts: words, prince, mouth. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 13, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 13, sentence 30

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But the words were hardly out of his mouth when he found that it was a hare that he was holding by the paw.

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**Who acts:** words, prince, mouth · **What happens:** be, find, hold · **To what, where:** mouth, hare · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 13. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (words, prince, mouth), 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:pg3027:13:30
# text = But the words were hardly out of his mouth when he found that it was a hare that he was holding by the paw.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
5	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
6	out	out	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
10	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	12	advmod	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	acl:relcl	_	_
13	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	ccomp	_	_
18	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	21	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	21	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	holding	hold	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	17	acl	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	paw	paw	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the words |  |  | prince's mouth |  | hardly *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **find** | past | prince |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is a** | past | mouth | a hare |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **hold** | past · progressive | prince | a hare *not said here* |  |  |  | by the paw | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent hare=Theme by paw=Location |

<!-- .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 Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3027 (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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