---
title: He hastily seized the iron hook which hung over the fire and flung i… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He hastily seized the iron hook which hung over the fire and flung it at the little creature; but the ermine was too quick for him, and the hook only touched the top of its tail, and that has remained black to this day. Who acts: man, iron hook, ermine, hook. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 27, sentence 56

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He hastily seized the iron hook which hung over the fire and flung it at the little creature; but the ermine was too quick for him, and the hook only touched the top of its tail, and that has remained black to this day.

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**Who acts:** man, iron hook, ermine, hook · **What happens:** seize, hang, fling, be, touch, remain · **To what, where:** iron hook, fire, hook, little creature, top, that

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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 (man, iron hook, ermine, hook), 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:pg3282:27:56
# text = He hastily seized the iron hook which hung over the fire and flung it at the little creature; but the ermine was too quick for him, and the hook only touched the top of its tail, and that has remained black to this day.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
2	hastily	hastily	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
3	seized	seize	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
5	iron	iron	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	compound	_	_
6	hook	hook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	obj	_	_
7	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	8	nsubj	_	_
8	hung	hang	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	_
9	over	over	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	fire	fire	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obl	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	flung	fling	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
14	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	at	at	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	18	det	_	_
17	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	25	punct	_	_
20	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	25	cc	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	ermine	ermine	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	25	nsubj	_	_
23	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	cop	_	_
24	too	too	ADV	RB	_	25	advmod	_	_
25	quick	quick	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	conj	_	_
26	for	for	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
31	hook	hook	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	nsubj	_	_
32	only	only	ADV	RB	_	33	advmod	_	_
33	touched	touch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	parataxis	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	top	top	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
41	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	43	nsubj:pass	_	_
42	has	have	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	43	aux	_	_
43	remained	remain	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	33	conj	_	_
44	black	black	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	43	xcomp	_	_
45	to	to	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	47	det	_	_
47	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	44	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **seize** | past | man | the iron hook |  |  |  | hastily *property* | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hook=Theme |
| 2 | **hang** | past | the iron hook |  |  | the fire |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent over fire=Location |
| 3 | **fling** | past | the iron hook *not said here* | hook |  | the little creature |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent it=Theme at creature=Destination |
| 4 | **is** | past | the ermine |  |  |  |  | for man; quick *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **touch** | past | the hook | the top of ermine's tail |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme top=Co-Theme |
| 6 | **remain** | present · perfect · passive |  | that |  |  |  | black *property* | vn seem-109-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Attribute |

<!-- .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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