---
title: As soon as they saw the fox they cried out: “Come and dance too, old… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: As soon as they saw the fox they cried out: “Come and dance too, old fox; it is a long time since we have seen you.” Who acts: grains, hall, we. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23, sentence 50

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
As soon as they saw the fox they cried out: “Come and dance too, old fox; it is a long time since we have seen you.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** grains, hall, we · **What happens:** see, cry out, come, dance, be · **To what, where:** fox, old fox, long time, you · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (grains, hall, we), 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:pg3282:23:50
# text = As soon as they saw the fox they cried out: “Come and dance too, old fox; it is a long time since we have seen you.”
1	As	as	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
2	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	advmod	_	_
3	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
4	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	advcl	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	out	out	ADP	RP	_	9	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	13	punct	_	_
12	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	13	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	Come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	conj	_	_
14	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
15	dance	dance	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	conj	_	_
16	too	too	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
21	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
22	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
24	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
25	time	time	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
26	since	since	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
27	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
28	have	have	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
29	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
30	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | past | grains *= grain* | the fox |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer fox=Stimulus |
| 2 | **cry out** *speech: express* | past | grains *= grain* |  |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **come** *in a quote* | infinitive | grains *= grain* *not said here* | old fox |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **dance** *in a quote* | infinitive | grains *= grain* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn modes\_of\_being\_with\_motion-47.3 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | hall | a long time |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **see** *in a quote* | present · perfect | we | you |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer you=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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