---
title: In general the wild cat did not need to use his ball, for the lion w… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In general the wild cat did not need to use his ball, for the lion was fond of hunting, and could kill all the food that they needed; but now and then his life would have been in danger had it not been for the golden ball. Who acts: wild cat, lion, life, danger. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 28, sentence 77

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
In general the wild cat did not need to use his ball, for the lion was fond of hunting, and could kill all the food that they needed; but now and then his life would have been in danger had it not been for the golden ball.

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**Who acts:** wild cat, lion, life, danger · **What happens:** not need, use, be, kill, need, have · **To what, where:** general, ball, food, danger

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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 (wild cat, lion, life, danger), 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:pg3282:28:77
# text = In general the wild cat did not need to use his ball, for the lion was fond of hunting, and could kill all the food that they needed; but now and then his life would have been in danger had it not been for the golden ball.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	2	case	_	_
2	general	general	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	obl	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
4	wild	wild	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	amod	_	_
5	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
6	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	aux	_	_
7	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	8	advmod	_	_
8	need	need	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
9	to	to	PART	TO	_	10	mark	_	_
10	use	use	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	xcomp	_	_
11	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	12	nmod:poss	_	_
12	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
14	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	nsubj	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	cop	_	_
18	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	10	advcl	_	_
19	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
20	hunting	hunting	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
23	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	kill	kill	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	18	conj	_	_
25	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	27	det:predet	_	_
26	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	27	det	_	_
27	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obj	_	_
28	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
29	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
30	needed	need	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	43	punct	_	_
32	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
33	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	43	advmod	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
35	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	42	advmod	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	37	nmod:poss	_	_
37	life	life	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nsubj	_	_
38	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	42	aux	_	_
39	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	42	aux	_	_
40	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	42	cop	_	_
41	in	in	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
42	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	nsubj	_	_
43	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
44	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	43	obj	_	_
45	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	50	advmod	_	_
46	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	50	cop	_	_
47	for	for	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	golden	golden	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	ball	ball	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **need** | past · do-support | the wild cat |  |  | general |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot clause=Theme |
| 2 | **use** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the wild cat *not said here* | Neuislandischen's ball |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent ball=Patient |
| 3 | **is** | past | the lion |  |  |  |  | of hunting; fond *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **kill** | could | the lion *not said here* | all food |  |  |  |  | vn remove-10.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Theme |
| 5 | **need** | past | Lion |  |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Pivot |
| 6 | **is** | would · perfect | Neuislandischen's life |  |  | danger | then |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **have** | past | danger | ball |  |  | now |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Patient |
| 8 | **not** **is** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | for the golden ball | tree rules |

<!-- .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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