--- title: If strength and swiftness could gain him a dinner he was sure never… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: If strength and swiftness could gain him a dinner he was sure never to be without one, but when it came to cunning, both the grizzly bear and the serpent could get the better of him, and he was forced to call in the help of the wild cat. Who acts: strength, Neuislandischen, dinner, serpent. A senten --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/28/74/) [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 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/28/) / 74 # The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 28, sentence 74 If strength and swiftness could gain him a dinner he was sure never to be without one, but when it came to cunning, both the grizzly bear and the serpent could get the better of him, and he was forced to call in the help of the wild cat. **Who acts:** strength, Neuislandischen, dinner, serpent · **What happens:** gain, be, not be, come, get, force · **To what, where:** dinner, Neuislandischen, grizzly bear, cunning, help, wild cat · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 28. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (strength, Neuislandischen, dinner, serpent), 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:pg3282:28:74 # text = If strength and swiftness could gain him a dinner he was sure never to be without one, but when it came to cunning, both the grizzly bear and the serpent could get the better of him, and he was forced to call in the help of the wild cat. 1 If if SCONJ IN _ 6 mark _ _ 2 strength strength NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 nsubj _ _ 3 and and CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 4 swiftness swiftness NOUN NN Number=Sing 2 conj _ _ 5 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 6 aux _ _ 6 gain gain VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 advcl _ _ 7 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 6 obj _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 dinner dinner NOUN NN Number=Sing 6 obj _ _ 10 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 12 nsubj _ _ 11 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 cop _ _ 12 sure sure ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 0 root _ _ 13 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 17 advmod _ _ 14 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 15 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 17 cop _ _ 16 without without ADP IN _ 17 case _ _ 17 one one NUM CD NumForm=Word|NumType=Card 12 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 18 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 19 but but CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 20 when when ADV WRB PronType=Int 22 advmod _ _ 21 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 22 nsubj _ _ 22 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 parataxis _ _ 23 to to ADP IN _ 24 case _ _ 24 cunning cunning NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 25 , , PUNCT , _ 29 punct _ _ 26 both both CCONJ CC _ 29 cc:preconj _ _ 27 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 29 det _ _ 28 grizzly grizzly ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 29 amod _ _ 29 bear bear NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 obl _ _ 30 and and CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 31 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 32 det _ _ 32 serpent serpent NOUN NN Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 33 could could AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 34 get get VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 29 conj _ _ 35 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 36 det _ _ 36 better good ADJ JJR Degree=Cmp 34 xcomp _ _ 37 of of ADP IN _ 38 case _ _ 38 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 39 , , PUNCT , _ 43 punct _ _ 40 and and CCONJ CC _ 43 cc _ _ 41 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 43 nsubj:pass _ _ 42 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 43 aux:pass _ _ 43 forced force VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 22 parataxis _ _ 44 to to PART TO _ 45 mark _ _ 45 call call VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 43 xcomp _ _ 46 in in ADP IN _ 48 case _ _ 47 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 48 det _ _ 48 help help NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 obl _ _ 49 of of ADP IN _ 52 case _ _ 50 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 52 det _ _ 51 wild wild ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 52 amod _ _ 52 cat cat NOUN NN Number=Sing 48 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 53 . . PUNCT . _ 12 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **gain** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | strength and swiftness | a dinner | Neuislandischen | | | | vn get-13.5.1-1 «NP V NP.beneficiary NP»: agent=Agent he=Beneficiary dinner=Theme | | 2 | **is** | past | Neuislandischen | | | | | sure *property* | tree rules | | 3 | **not** **is** | to-infinitive | | | | | | without one | tree rules | | 4 | **come** | past | dinner | the grizzly bear | | cunning | | | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to cunning=Initial\_Location | | 5 | **get** | could | the serpent | | | | | good *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer | | 6 | **force** | past · passive | | Neuislandischen | | | | | vn urge-58.1-1 «NP V NP S\_ING»: subject=Recipient clause=Topic | | 7 | **call** | to-infinitive | Neuislandischen *not said here* | | | the help of the wild cat | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **help** | | | the wild cat | | | | | nom help «act transitive»: of=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 73](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/28/73/) - next →: [sentence 75](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/28/75/) - ↑ back to [The Brown Fairy Book, part 28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3282/28/)