---
title: Now, although the mink could not run as fast as the wolves, he had a… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Now, although the mink could not run as fast as the wolves, he had a good start, and was already afloat when the swiftest among them threw themselves into the nearest canoe. Who acts: mink, Wolf, swiftest. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 34, with its dependency tr
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/64/)

<!-- 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/) / 64

# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 34, sentence 64

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Now, although the mink could not run as fast as the wolves, he had a good start, and was already afloat when the swiftest among them threw themselves into the nearest canoe.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** mink, Wolf, swiftest · **What happens:** not run, have, be, throw · **To what, where:** good start, Mink, nearest canoe

<!-- .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 (mink, Wolf, swiftest), 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:pg3027:34:64
# text = Now, although the mink could not run as fast as the wolves, he had a good start, and was already afloat when the swiftest among them threw themselves into the nearest canoe.
1	Now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	although	although	SCONJ	IN	_	8	mark	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	mink	mink	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	run	run	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	advcl	_	_
9	as	as	ADV	RB	_	10	advmod	_	_
10	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	8	advmod	_	_
11	as	as	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
13	wolves	wolf	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
17	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	start	start	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
23	already	already	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
24	afloat	afloat	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	conj	_	_
25	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	27	advmod	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	swiftest	swift	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	30	nsubj	_	_
28	among	among	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	_
30	threw	throw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	parataxis	_	_
31	themselves	themselves	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	30	obj	_	_
32	into	into	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
34	nearest	near	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	35	amod	_	_
35	canoe	canoe	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	16	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **run** | could | the mink |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | Wolf | a good start |  |  | now |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent start=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | past | Wolf *not said here* |  |  |  |  | afloat *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **throw** | past | the swiftest | Mink |  |  |  | into the nearest canoe *result* | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Causer themselves=Theme into canoe=Result |

<!-- .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 63](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/63/)
- next →: [sentence 65](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/65/)
- ↑ back to [Opening, part 34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3027/34/)