---
title: Then the fox dug his claws into the ground, but he was not strong en… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Then the fox dug his claws into the ground, but he was not strong enough to pull against the bear, and slowly he was dragged forth and his body flung over the bear’s neck. Who acts: fox, bear, body. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 26, with its dependen
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 26, sentence 94

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the fox dug his claws into the ground, but he was not strong enough to pull against the bear, and slowly he was dragged forth and his body flung over the bear’s neck.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** fox, bear, body · **What happens:** dig, not be, pull, drag, fling · **To what, where:** claws, bear, neck

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 26. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fox, bear, body), 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:pg3282:26:94
# text = Then the fox dug his claws into the ground, but he was not strong enough to pull against the bear, and slowly he was dragged forth and his body flung over the bear’s neck.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	4	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	dug	dig	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	6	nmod:poss	_	_
6	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
7	into	into	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	ground	ground	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
13	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	15	advmod	_	_
15	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	_
16	enough	enough	ADV	RB	_	15	advmod	_	_
17	to	to	PART	TO	_	18	mark	_	_
18	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
19	against	against	ADP	IN	_	21	case	_	_
20	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	21	det	_	_
21	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	slowly	slowly	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
25	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	dragged	drag	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	parataxis	_	_
28	forth	forth	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	body	body	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
32	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
33	over	over	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’s	's	PART	POS	_	35	case	_	_
37	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **dig** | past | the fox | bear's claws |  |  | then | into the ground | vn poke-19-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.patient»: agent=Agent claw=Instrument into ground=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **is** | past | bear |  |  |  |  | enough, strong *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **pull** | to-infinitive | bear *not said here* |  |  |  |  | against the bear | vn push-12-1 «NP V PP-Conative»: agent=Agent against bear=Theme |
| 4 | **drag** | past · passive |  | bear |  |  |  | forth, slowly *property* | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **fling** | past | bear's body |  |  | the bear's neck |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent over neck=Destination |

<!-- .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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