---
title: So the rabbit took one of the green oranges and began to bite it, bu… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So the rabbit took one of the green oranges and began to bite it, but its skin was so hard that he could hardly get his teeth through the rind. Who acts: rabbit, skin. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 3, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 3, sentence 90

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the rabbit took one of the green oranges and began to bite it, but its skin was so hard that he could hardly get his teeth through the rind.

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**Who acts:** rabbit, skin · **What happens:** take, begin, bite, be, get · **To what, where:** one, fruit, teeth, rind

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 3. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rabbit, skin), 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:pg3027:3:90
# text = So the rabbit took one of the green oranges and began to bite it, but its skin was so hard that he could hardly get his teeth through the rind.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	took	take	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	obj	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	oranges	orange	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nmod	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	skin	skin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	nsubj	_	_
19	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	cop	_	_
20	so	so	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	hard	hard	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	26	aux	_	_
25	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	ccomp	_	_
27	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	28	nmod:poss	_	_
28	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obj	_	_
29	through	through	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	rind	rind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **take** | past | the rabbit | one of the green oranges |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 2 | **begin** | past | the rabbit *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **bite** | to-infinitive | the rabbit *not said here* | fruit |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 4 | **is** | past | fruit's skin |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **get** | could | Rabbit | Rabbit's teeth |  | the rind |  | hardly *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer tooth=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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