---
title: The fox, on his side, was far too clever to choose the same path tha… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The fox, on his side, was far too clever to choose the same path that his friends had taken, but would in and out of the forest, till at last even HE was tired out, and fell fast asleep under a tree. Who acts: fox, friends, giant. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 23, sentence 64

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The fox, on his side, was far too clever to choose the same path that his friends had taken, but would in and out of the forest, till at last even HE was tired out, and fell fast asleep under a tree.

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**Who acts:** fox, friends, giant · **What happens:** be, choose, take, fall · **To what, where:** same path, tree

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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 (fox, friends, giant), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3282:23:64
# text = The fox, on his side, was far too clever to choose the same path that his friends had taken, but would in and out of the forest, till at last even HE was tired out, and fell fast asleep under a tree.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
4	on	on	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	2	punct	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	far	far	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	11	advmod	_	_
10	too	too	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
11	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	choose	choose	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	csubj	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	path	path	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obj	_	_
17	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	21	obj	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	friends	friend	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
20	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux	_	_
21	taken	take	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	16	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
23	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
24	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	25	aux	_	_
25	in	in	ADV	RB	_	11	obl	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	out	out	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	34	punct	_	_
32	till	till	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	at	at	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
34	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	conj	_	_
35	even	even	ADV	RB	_	38	advmod	_	_
36	HE	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	cop	_	_
38	tired	tired	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	ccomp	_	_
39	out	out	ADP	RP	_	38	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	fell	fall	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
43	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	42	advmod	_	_
44	asleep	asleep	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	42	xcomp	_	_
45	under	under	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	47	det	_	_
47	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the fox and giant's side |  |  |  |  | clever, far *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **choose** | to-infinitive |  | the same path |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent path=Theme |
| 3 | **take** | past · perfect | giant's friends | the same path |  |  |  |  | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Theme |
| 4 | **be** |  | the fox and giant's side *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **is** | past | giant |  |  |  |  | tired *property* | tree rules |
| 6 | **fall** | past | the fox and giant's side *not said here* |  |  | a tree |  | asleep, fast *property* | vn occur-48.3 «NP V PP»: agent=Theme under tree=Location |

<!-- .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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