---
title: Now the jackal had guessed what advice the old man would give his en… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now the jackal had guessed what advice the old man would give his enemy, and so, while his friends were greedily eating the ripest melons in the sunniest corner of the garden, he stole behind them and tied their tails together. Who acts: old man, friends, garden. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 18, sentence 6

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now the jackal had guessed what advice the old man would give his enemy, and so, while his friends were greedily eating the ripest melons in the sunniest corner of the garden, he stole behind them and tied their tails together.

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**Who acts:** old man, friends, garden · **What happens:** guess, give, be, eat, steal, tie · **To what, where:** jackal, enemy, ripest melons, sunniest corner, tails

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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 (old man, friends, garden), 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:pg3027:18:6
# text = Now the jackal had guessed what advice the old man would give his enemy, and so, while his friends were greedily eating the ripest melons in the sunniest corner of the garden, he stole behind them and tied their tails together.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	5	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	jackal	jackal	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	guessed	guess	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
7	advice	advice	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
11	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
12	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	acl:relcl	_	_
13	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	14	nmod:poss	_	_
14	enemy	enemy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	so	so	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
20	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	21	nmod:poss	_	_
21	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
22	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	cop	_	_
23	greedily	greedily	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
24	eating	eat	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	23	advcl	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
26	ripest	ripe	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	27	amod	_	_
27	melons	melon	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obj	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
30	sunniest	sunny	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	31	amod	_	_
31	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	_
32	of	of	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	garden	garden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
35	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
36	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
37	stole	steal	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	parataxis	_	_
38	behind	behind	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	obl	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
41	tied	tie	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	conj	_	_
42	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	tails	tail	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	41	obj	_	_
44	together	together	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **guess** | past · perfect · passive |  | the jackal |  |  | now |  | vn conjecture-29.5-1 «NP V NP to be NP»: subject=Theme what=Eventuality |
| 2 | **give** | would | the old man | man's enemy |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent enemy=Theme |
| 3 | **is** | past | man's friends |  |  |  |  | greedily *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **eat** | gerund | man's friends *not said here* | the ripest melons |  | the sunniest corner of the garden |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent melon=Patient |
| 5 | **steal** | past | garden |  |  |  |  | behind jackals *= jackal* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme behind they=Location |
| 6 | **tie** | past | garden *not said here* | jackals's tails |  |  |  | together *property* | vn mix-22.1-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient |

<!-- .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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