---
title: Really it seems as if there was not a living creature left for me to… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Really it seems as if there was not a living creature left for me to prey upon but a wolf, and, as the proverb says: "One wolf does not bite another." Who acts: it, proverb, One wolf. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics o
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 6, sentence 53

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Really it seems as if there was not a living creature left for me to prey upon but a wolf, and, as the proverb says: "One wolf does not bite another."

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** it, proverb, One wolf · **What happens:** seem, live, not be, leave, say, not bite · **To what, where:** living creature, another · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (it, proverb, One wolf), 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:pg3027:6:53
# text = Really it seems as if there was not a living creature left for me to prey upon but a wolf, and, as the proverb says: "One wolf does not bite another."
1	Really	really	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	seems	seem	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
5	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	7	mark	_	_
6	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	7	expl	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	11	advmod	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	living	live	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	11	amod	_	_
11	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	ccomp	_	_
12	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	11	acl	_	_
13	for	for	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
14	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	12	obl	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	prey	prey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	advcl	_	_
17	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	12	obl	_	_
18	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
19	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
24	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	proverb	proverb	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	nsubj	_	_
27	says	say	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
29	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	One	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	31	nummod	_	_
31	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
32	does	do	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	34	advmod	_	_
34	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	ccomp	_	_
35	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	34	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	34	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seem** | present | it |  |  |  |  |  | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **live** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **not** **is a** | past |  | a living creature but a wolf |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **leave** | participle |  | a living creature but a wolf *not said here* |  |  |  | for me | vn fulfilling-13.4.1 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent for i=Recipient |
| 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | present | the proverb |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **not** **bite** *in a quote* | present · do-support | One wolf | another |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent another=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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