---
title: So the hedgehog waited and waited; but every time he asked if there… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So the hedgehog waited and waited; but every time he asked if there was no chance of getting jars of butter the jackal put him off with some excuse. Who acts: hedgehog, time, jackal. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 18, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 18, sentence 125

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the hedgehog waited and waited; but every time he asked if there was no chance of getting jars of butter the jackal put him off with some excuse.

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**Who acts:** hedgehog, time, jackal · **What happens:** wait, ask, be, get, put off · **To what, where:** time, chance, hedgehog

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (hedgehog, time, jackal), 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:pg3027:18:125
# text = So the hedgehog waited and waited; but every time he asked if there was no chance of getting jars of butter the jackal put him off with some excuse.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	hedgehog	hedgehog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	waited	wait	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
8	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
9	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	10	det	_	_
10	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj	_	_
11	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj	_	_
12	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	acl:relcl	_	_
13	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	15	expl	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
16	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	17	det	_	_
17	chance	chance	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	getting	get	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	20	amod	_	_
20	jars	jar	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	butter	butter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	jackal	jackal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
25	put	put	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
26	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	_
27	off	off	ADP	RP	_	25	compound:prt	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	30	det	_	_
30	excuse	excuse	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **wait** | past | the hedgehog |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **wait** | past | the hedgehog *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | hedgehog | every time *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent time=Recipient |
| 4 | **is a** | past | every time | no chance |  |  |  | of getting jars of butter | tree rules |
| 5 | **get** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **put off** | past | the jackal |  | hedgehog |  |  | with some excuse | vn invest-13.5.4-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent he=Goal |

<!-- .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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