---
title: They were always very polite when they met; but, in spite of that, t… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They were always very polite when they met; but, in spite of that, they kept a close watch one upon the other, as each was afraid of being killed and eaten by somebody else. Who acts: sorts, each. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34, with its dependency tree and th
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/15/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Orange Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/) / [Opening, part 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/) / 15

# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 34, sentence 15

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were always very polite when they met; but, in spite of that, they kept a close watch one upon the other, as each was afraid of being killed and eaten by somebody else.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sorts, each · **What happens:** be, meet, keep, watch, kill, eat · **To what, where:** one, that

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sorts, each), 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:pg3027:34:15
# text = They were always very polite when they met; but, in spite of that, they kept a close watch one upon the other, as each was afraid of being killed and eaten by somebody else.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
3	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	5	advmod	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	polite	polite	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
7	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
12	in	in	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	spite	spite	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	ccomp	_	_
14	of	of	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
15	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
17	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	kept	keep	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	xcomp	_	_
21	watch	watch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	xcomp	_	_
22	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	21	obj	_	_
23	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	22	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	30	nsubj	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	cop	_	_
30	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	advcl	_	_
31	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	33	mark	_	_
32	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	30	xcomp	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	conj	_	_
36	by	by	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
37	somebody	somebody	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	35	obl	_	_
38	else	else	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | sorts *= sort* |  |  |  |  | always, polite *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **meet** | past | sorts *= sort* |  |  |  |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **keep** | past | sorts *= sort* |  |  |  |  | close *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **watch** | infinitive | sorts *= sort* *not said here* | one |  |  |  | upon the other | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Theme |
| 5 | **is** | past | each |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **kill** | gerund · passive | each *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle» |
| 7 | **eat** | participle | each *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by somebody | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **spite** |  |  | that |  |  |  |  | nom spite «feeling transitive»: of=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/14/)
- next →: [sentence 16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/16/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/)