---
title: The bear, who knew quite well that he could not be shot, sometimes s… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The bear, who knew quite well that he could not be shot, sometimes slackened his pace and let the dogs get quite close; and in this way the elder son reached the mountain without observing it, while his brother, who had hurt his foot, was still far behind. Who acts: bear, dogs, elder son, brother. A
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 14, sentence 72

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The bear, who knew quite well that he could not be shot, sometimes slackened his pace and let the dogs get quite close; and in this way the elder son reached the mountain without observing it, while his brother, who had hurt his foot, was still far behind.

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**Who acts:** bear, dogs, elder son, brother · **What happens:** know, not shoot, slacken, let, get, reach · **To what, where:** bear, pace, mountain, way, foot

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 14. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (bear, dogs, elder son, brother), 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:pg3282:14:72
# text = The bear, who knew quite well that he could not be shot, sometimes slackened his pace and let the dogs get quite close; and in this way the elder son reached the mountain without observing it, while his brother, who had hurt his foot, was still far behind.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
4	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	5	nsubj	_	_
5	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
7	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	5	advmod	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
11	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
12	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	shot	shoot	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	sometimes	sometimes	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	16	advmod	_	_
16	slackened	slacken	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	conj	_	_
17	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	18	nmod:poss	_	_
18	pace	pace	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
20	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	conj	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	23	nsubj	_	_
23	get	get	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	parataxis	_	_
24	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	close	close	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	34	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	34	cc	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	30	det	_	_
30	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
32	elder	elder	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	33	amod	_	_
33	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nsubj	_	_
34	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
35	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	mountain	mountain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obj	_	_
37	without	without	SCONJ	IN	_	38	mark	_	_
38	observing	observe	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	34	advcl	_	_
39	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
41	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	43	mark	_	_
42	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	43	nmod:poss	_	_
43	brother	brother	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
45	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	47	nsubj	_	_
46	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
47	hurt	hurt	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	43	acl:relcl	_	_
48	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	49	nmod:poss	_	_
49	foot	foot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	54	punct	_	_
51	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	54	cop	_	_
52	still	still	ADV	RB	_	54	advmod	_	_
53	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	54	advmod	_	_
54	behind	behind	ADV	RB	_	34	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **know** | past | the bear |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **not** **shoot** | could · passive |  | bear |  |  |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 3 | **slacken** | past |  | bear's pace |  |  |  | sometimes *property* | vn bend-45.2 «NP V NP.patient»: agent=Agent pace=Patient |
| 4 | **let** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V PP.recipient»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **get** | present | the dogs |  |  |  |  | close *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 6 | **reach** | past | the elder son | the mountain |  | this way |  | bear's brother *obl* | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent mountain=Theme |
| 7 | **observe** | gerund | the elder son *not said here* | pace |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V NP.topic»: agent=Agent it=Topic |
| 8 | **hurt** | past · perfect | bear's brother | bear's foot |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer foot=Patient |
| 9 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  | still | behind, far *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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