---
title: The knot-hole was too small for the wolves, and there were so many o… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The knot-hole was too small for the wolves, and there were so many of them in the hut that it was some time before they could get the door open. Who acts: knot hole, many, hole, Mink. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 34, sentence 62

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The knot-hole was too small for the wolves, and there were so many of them in the hut that it was some time before they could get the door open.

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**Who acts:** knot hole, many, hole, Mink · **What happens:** be, get · **To what, where:** time, door

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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 (knot hole, many, hole, Mink), 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:pg3027:34:62
# text = The knot-hole was too small for the wolves, and there were so many of them in the hut that it was some time before they could get the door open.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
2	knot	knot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	hole	hole	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	too	too	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
8	for	for	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	14	expl	_	_
14	were	be	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
15	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	many	many	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	nsubj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
18	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nmod	_	_
19	in	in	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	hut	hut	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	advmod	_	_
22	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	26	mark	_	_
23	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
24	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	cop	_	_
25	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	26	det	_	_
26	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl:unmarked	_	_
27	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	acl	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obj	_	_
33	open	open	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the knot hole |  |  |  |  | for the wolves; small *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **be** | past | many of Mink |  |  | there |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **is a** | past | hole | some time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **get** | could | Mink | the door |  |  |  | open *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer door=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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