---
title: But just as he was about to spring on his back and give him a deadly… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But just as he was about to spring on his back and give him a deadly bite, the jackal heard a low growl, which never proceeded from the throat of any sheep. Who acts: hedgehog, jackal, low growl. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 18, with its dependency tree and the
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 18, sentence 52

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But just as he was about to spring on his back and give him a deadly bite, the jackal heard a low growl, which never proceeded from the throat of any sheep.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** hedgehog, jackal, low growl · **What happens:** be, spring, give, hear, not proceed · **To what, where:** back, deadly bite, hedgehog, low growl, throat

<!-- .vabout -->
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, jackal, low growl), 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:pg3027:18:52
# text = But just as he was about to spring on his back and give him a deadly bite, the jackal heard a low growl, which never proceeded from the throat of any sheep.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
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	cop	_	_
6	about	about	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	spring	spring	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	on	on	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
14	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	iobj	_	_
15	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	deadly	deadly	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	bite	bite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	jackal	jackal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
21	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	acl:relcl	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	low	low	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	growl	growl	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
26	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
27	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	28	advmod	_	_
28	proceeded	proceed	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	acl:relcl	_	_
29	from	from	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	throat	throat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	34	det	_	_
34	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | hedgehog |  |  |  |  | about *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **spring** | to-infinitive | hedgehog *not said here* |  |  | hedgehog's back |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on back=Trajectory |
| 3 | **give** | infinitive | hedgehog *not said here* | a deadly bite | hedgehog |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: agent=Agent he=Recipient bite=Theme |
| 4 | **hear** | past | the jackal | a low growl |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S»: agent=Experiencer growl=Stimulus |
| 5 | **not** **proceed** | past | a low growl |  |  | the throat of any sheep |  |  | vn begin-55.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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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