--- title: “Better kill it first,” said the old man; and the hare listened, hor… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: “Better kill it first,” said the old man; and the hare listened, horribly frightened, but still looking secretly to see if there was no hole through which he could escape, if he had a chance of doing so. Who acts: Better, old man, hare, hole. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/71/) [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 Brown Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/) / [The Brown Fairy Book, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/) / 71 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 11, sentence 71 “Better kill it first,” said the old man; and the hare listened, horribly frightened, but still looking secretly to see if there was no hole through which he could escape, if he had a chance of doing so. **Who acts:** Better, old man, hare, hole, chance · **What happens:** kill, say, listen, frighten, look, see · **To what, where:** start, hole, chance · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (Better, old man, hare, hole), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3282:11:71 # text = “Better kill it first,” said the old man; and the hare listened, horribly frightened, but still looking secretly to see if there was no hole through which he could escape, if he had a chance of doing so. 1 “ " PUNCT `` _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 2 Better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 3 nsubj _ _ 3 kill kill VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 ccomp _ _ 4 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 obj _ _ 5 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 3 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 3 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 7 ” " PUNCT '' _ 3 punct _ _ 8 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 11 det _ _ 10 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 11 amod _ _ 11 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 12 ; ; PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 13 and and CCONJ CC _ 16 cc _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 hare hare NOUN NN Number=Sing 16 nsubj _ _ 16 listened listen VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 8 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 18 horribly horribly ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 19 frightened frighten VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 16 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 23 punct _ _ 21 but but CCONJ CC _ 23 cc _ _ 22 still still ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 23 looking look VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 19 advcl _ _ 24 secretly secretly ADV RB _ 23 advmod _ _ 25 to to PART TO _ 26 mark _ _ 26 see see VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 23 advcl _ _ 27 if if SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 28 there there PRON EX PronType=Dem 29 expl _ _ 29 was be VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 26 ccomp _ _ 30 no no DET DT PronType=Neg 31 det _ _ 31 hole hole NOUN NN Number=Sing 29 nsubj _ _ 32 through through ADP IN _ 33 case _ _ 33 which which PRON WDT PronType=Rel 36 obl _ _ 34 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 35 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 36 aux _ _ 36 escape escape VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 31 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 38 if if SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 39 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 nsubj _ _ 40 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 conj _ _ 41 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 42 det _ _ 42 chance chance NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 obj _ _ 43 of of SCONJ IN _ 44 mark _ _ 44 doing do VERB VBG VerbForm=Ger 42 acl _ _ 45 so so ADV RB _ 44 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 8 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **kill** *in a quote* | infinitive | Better | start | | | | first *property* | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the old man | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **listen** | past | the hare | | | | | | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent | | 4 | **frighten** | participle | | | | | | horribly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 5 | **look** | gerund | | | | | still | secretly *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Stimulus | | 6 | **see** | to-infinitive | | | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V how S\_INF»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 7 | **be** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | no hole | | | there | | | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 8 | **escape** | could | Hare | | | no hole | | | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme through which=Initial\_Location | | 9 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | Hare | a chance | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent chance=Patient | | 10 | **do** | gerund | a chance *not said here* | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 70](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/70/) - next →: [sentence 72](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/72/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/11/)