---
title: Like a flash of lightning the jackal threw down the cord and was fly… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Like a flash of lightning the jackal threw down the cord and was flying across the plain; but though his legs were long, the greyhound's legs were longer still, and he soon came up with his prey. Who acts: jackal, legs, hedgehog, lightning. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Openi
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 18, sentence 53

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Like a flash of lightning the jackal threw down the cord and was flying across the plain; but though his legs were long, the greyhound's legs were longer still, and he soon came up with his prey.

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**Who acts:** jackal, legs, hedgehog, lightning · **What happens:** throw down, fly, be, come up, flash · **To what, where:** cord, plain

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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 (jackal, legs, hedgehog, lightning), 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:pg3027:18:53
# text = Like a flash of lightning the jackal threw down the cord and was flying across the plain; but though his legs were long, the greyhound's legs were longer still, and he soon came up with his prey.
1	Like	like	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	flash	flash	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	lightning	lightning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	jackal	jackal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
8	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
9	down	down	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	cord	cord	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
14	flying	fly	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	8	conj	_	_
15	across	across	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	plain	plain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	24	mark	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	greyhound	greyhound	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	's	's	PART	POS	_	27	case	_	_
29	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	32	nsubj	_	_
30	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	32	cop	_	_
31	longer	long	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	32	advmod	_	_
32	still	still	ADV	RB	_	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
36	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	37	advmod	_	_
37	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
38	up	up	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
39	with	with	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **throw down** | past | the jackal | the cord |  |  |  | like a flash of lightning | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent cord=Theme |
| 2 | **fly** | past · progressive | the jackal *not said here* |  |  | the plain |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme across plain=Trajectory |
| 3 | **is** | past | hedgehog's legs |  |  |  |  | long *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | the greyhound's legs |  |  |  |  | long, still *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **come up** | past | hedgehog |  |  |  |  | with hedgehog's prey; soon *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 6 | **flash** |  | lightning |  |  |  |  |  | nom flash «event intransitive»: of=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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