---
title: But before he got there he met a huge creature on four legs, which h… — The Orange Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But before he got there he met a huge creature on four legs, which he afterwards knew to be a dog, who stood and gazed at him with a long red tongue hanging out of his mouth. Who acts: firing, dog, long red tongue. A sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9, with its depen
---

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# The Orange Fairy Book, Opening, part 9, sentence 40

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But before he got there he met a huge creature on four legs, which he afterwards knew to be a dog, who stood and gazed at him with a long red tongue hanging out of his mouth.

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**Who acts:** firing, dog, long red tongue · **What happens:** get, meet, know, be, stand, gaze · **To what, where:** huge creature, four legs, dog, mouth

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This is a sentence of «The Orange Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Opening, part 9. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (firing, dog, long red tongue), 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:pg3027:9:40
# text = But before he got there he met a huge creature on four legs, which he afterwards knew to be a dog, who stood and gazed at him with a long red tongue hanging out of his mouth.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	4	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	advcl	_	_
5	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
7	met	meet	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
8	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	huge	huge	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	amod	_	_
10	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obj	_	_
11	on	on	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
12	four	four	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	legs	leg	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	18	obj	_	_
16	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
17	afterwards	afterwards	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	acl:relcl	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	22	mark	_	_
20	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	cop	_	_
21	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
24	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	25	nsubj	_	_
25	stood	stand	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	parataxis	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
27	gazed	gaze	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
28	at	at	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	_
30	with	with	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
32	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
33	red	red	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	tongue	tongue	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	27	obl	_	_
35	hanging	hang	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	34	acl	_	_
36	out	out	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
38	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	39	nmod:poss	_	_
39	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get** | past | firing |  |  | there |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **meet** | past | firing | a huge creature |  | four legs |  |  | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent creature=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **know** | past | firing | four legs |  |  |  | afterwards *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer which=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is a** | to-infinitive |  | a dog |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **stand** | past | a dog |  |  |  |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **gaze** | past | a dog *not said here* |  |  |  |  | at firing; with a long red tongue | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent at he=Theme |
| 7 | **hang out** | gerund | a long red tongue *not said here* | firing's mouth |  |  |  |  | vn poison-42.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouth=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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