--- title: Boxes were opened that would hardly have held the kitten’s paw; book… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Boxes were opened that would hardly have held the kitten’s paw; books were taken from bookshelves, lest the kitten should have got behind them, drawers were pulled out, for perhaps the kitten might have got shut in. Who acts: kitten. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fai --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/27/113/) [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 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/27/) / 113 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 27, sentence 113 Boxes were opened that would hardly have held the kitten’s paw; books were taken from bookshelves, lest the kitten should have got behind them, drawers were pulled out, for perhaps the kitten might have got shut in. **Who acts:** kitten · **What happens:** open, hold, take, get, pull out, shut in · **To what, where:** Boxes, paw, books, bookshelves, drawers This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 27. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (kitten), 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:pg3282:27:113 # text = Boxes were opened that would hardly have held the kitten’s paw; books were taken from bookshelves, lest the kitten should have got behind them, drawers were pulled out, for perhaps the kitten might have got shut in. 1 Boxes box NOUN NNS Number=Plur 3 nsubj:pass _ _ 2 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux:pass _ _ 3 opened open VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 0 root _ _ 4 that that SCONJ IN _ 8 mark _ _ 5 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 8 aux _ _ 6 hardly hardly ADV RB _ 8 advmod _ _ 7 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 8 aux _ _ 8 held hold VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 3 advcl _ _ 9 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 10 kitten kitten NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 nmod:poss _ SpaceAfter=No 11 ’s 's PART POS _ 10 case _ _ 12 paw paw NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 13 ; ; PUNCT : _ 16 punct _ _ 14 books book NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 nsubj:pass _ _ 15 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 16 aux:pass _ _ 16 taken take VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 3 parataxis _ _ 17 from from ADP IN _ 18 case _ _ 18 bookshelves bookshelf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 16 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 25 punct _ _ 20 lest lest SCONJ IN _ 25 mark _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 22 det _ _ 22 kitten kitten NOUN NN Number=Sing 25 nsubj _ _ 23 should should AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 25 aux _ _ 24 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 25 aux _ _ 25 got get VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 16 conj _ _ 26 behind behind ADP IN _ 27 case _ _ 27 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 28 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 29 drawers drawer NOUN NNS Number=Plur 31 nsubj:pass _ _ 30 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 31 aux:pass _ _ 31 pulled pull VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 16 conj _ _ 32 out out ADP RP _ 31 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 34 for for SCONJ IN _ 40 mark _ _ 35 perhaps perhaps ADV RB _ 40 advmod _ _ 36 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 37 det _ _ 37 kitten kitten NOUN NN Number=Sing 40 nsubj _ _ 38 might might AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 39 have have AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 40 aux _ _ 40 got get VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 31 conj _ _ 41 shut shut VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 40 xcomp _ _ 42 in in ADP RP _ 41 compound:prt _ SpaceAfter=No 43 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **open** | past · passive | | Boxes | | | | | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: subject=Theme | | 2 | **hold** | would · perfect | | the kitten's paw | | | | hardly *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent paw=Theme | | 3 | **take** | past · passive | | books | | bookshelves | | | vn bring-11.3 «NP V NP PP.initial\_location»: subject=Theme from bookshelf=Initial\_Location | | 4 | **get** | should · perfect | the kitten | | | | | behind books *= book* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 5 | **pull out** | past · passive | | drawers | | | | | tree rules | | 6 | **get** | might · perfect | the kitten | | | | | perhaps *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus | | 7 | **shut in** | participle | the kitten *not said here* | | | | | | vn other\_cos-45.4 «NP.patient V»: agent=Patient | 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 112](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/27/112/) - next →: [sentence 114](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/27/114/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/27/)