---
title: Something, a very heavy fish he supposed, was pulling so hard that h… — The Brown Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Something, a very heavy fish he supposed, was pulling so hard that he could hardly keep his feet, and for a few minutes it seemed either as if he must let go or be dragged into the pool. Who acts: sun, Something, it. A sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, 
---

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# The Brown Fairy Book, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 85

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Something, a very heavy fish he supposed, was pulling so hard that he could hardly keep his feet, and for a few minutes it seemed either as if he must let go or be dragged into the pool.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** sun, Something, it · **What happens:** suppose, pull, keep, seem, let, go · **To what, where:** heavy fish, feet, pool

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This is a sentence of «The Brown Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Brown Fairy Book, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (sun, Something, it), 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:pg3282:8:85
# text = Something, a very heavy fish he supposed, was pulling so hard that he could hardly keep his feet, and for a few minutes it seemed either as if he must let go or be dragged into the pool.
1	Something	something	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	11	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	heavy	heavy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
8	supposed	suppose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	aux	_	_
11	pulling	pull	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	11	advmod	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
16	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
17	hardly	hardly	ADV	RB	_	18	advmod	_	_
18	keep	keep	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	advcl	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
23	for	for	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	28	obl	_	_
27	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	seemed	seem	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	parataxis	_	_
29	either	either	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	28	advmod	_	_
30	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
31	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
33	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	34	aux	_	_
34	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	28	ccomp	_	_
35	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	34	xcomp	_	_
36	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
37	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	aux:pass	_	_
38	dragged	drag	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	34	conj	_	_
39	into	into	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	pool	pool	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **suppose** | past | sun | a heavy fish *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent fish=Attribute |
| 2 | **pull** | past · progressive | Something |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn slide-11.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **keep** | could | sun | sun's feet |  |  |  | hardly *property* | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent foot=Theme |
| 4 | **seem** | past | it |  |  |  | minute | either *property* | vn seem-109-1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Theme clause=Attribute |
| 5 | **let** *a condition, not said to happen* | must | sun |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **go** | infinitive | sun *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **drag** | infinitive · passive | sun *not said here* |  |  | the pool |  |  | vn search-35.2 «NP V PP.location» |

<!-- .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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