---
title: But he need not have been afraid; in every mesh of the net was a fin… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But he need not have been afraid; in every mesh of the net was a fine fat fish, and of course the net itself was so heavy that he could only lift one corner. Who acts: Hare, fine fat fish. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, with its dependency tree an
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, sentence 55

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But he need not have been afraid; in every mesh of the net was a fine fat fish, and of course the net itself was so heavy that he could only lift one corner.

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**Who acts:** Hare, fine fat fish · **What happens:** not be, be, lift · **To what, where:** fine fat fish, mesh, one corner

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Hare, fine fat fish), 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:pg3282:11:55
# text = But he need not have been afraid; in every mesh of the net was a fine fat fish, and of course the net itself was so heavy that he could only lift one corner.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
3	need	need	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	7	advmod	_	_
5	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	7	aux	_	_
6	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
7	afraid	afraid	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
9	in	in	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	11	det	_	_
11	mesh	mesh	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
12	of	of	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
15	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	cop	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
17	fine	fine	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
18	fat	fat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
22	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
23	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	fixed	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	net	net	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	parataxis	_	_
26	itself	itself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Emp|Reflex=Yes	25	nmod:unmarked	_	_
27	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	cop	_	_
28	so	so	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	ccomp	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
32	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
33	only	only	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	_
34	lift	lift	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	advcl	_	_
35	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	36	nummod	_	_
36	corner	corner	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | present · perfect | Hare |  |  |  |  | afraid *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | past |  | a fine fat fish |  | every mesh of the net |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | past | a fine fat fish |  |  |  |  | heavy *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **lift** | could | Hare | one corner |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent corner=Theme |

<!-- .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 Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3282 (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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