---
title: ‘If the slim yellow dog of the greenwood were only here, he would so… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘If the slim yellow dog of the greenwood were only here, he would soon have that sheep,’ cried the king; and as he spoke, the slim yellow dog appeared from the forest, with the sheep in his mouth. Who acts: slim yellow dog, dog, sheep. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac F
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 10, sentence 12

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘If the slim yellow dog of the greenwood were only here, he would soon have that sheep,’ cried the king; and as he spoke, the slim yellow dog appeared from the forest, with the sheep in his mouth.

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**Who acts:** slim yellow dog, dog, sheep · **What happens:** be, have, cry, speak, appear · **To what, where:** sheep, king, forest · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (slim yellow dog, dog, sheep), 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:pg3454:10:12
# text = ‘If the slim yellow dog of the greenwood were only here, he would soon have that sheep,’ cried the king; and as he spoke, the slim yellow dog appeared from the forest, with the sheep in his mouth.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	12	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
4	slim	slim	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
5	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	6	amod	_	_
6	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
9	greenwood	greenwood	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	12	cop	_	_
11	only	only	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	here	here	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	17	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
15	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
16	soon	soon	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	_
17	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	ccomp	_	_
18	that	that	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	19	det	_	_
19	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	17	punct	_	_
22	cried	cry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	35	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
27	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	spoke	speak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
31	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
32	slim	slim	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
33	yellow	yellow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	amod	_	_
34	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj	_	_
35	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
36	from	from	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	forest	forest	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
40	with	with	ADP	IN	_	42	case	_	_
41	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	sheep	sheep	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	obl	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	45	nmod:poss	_	_
45	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | the slim yellow dog of the greenwood |  |  |  |  | here *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **have** | would | dog | that sheep |  |  |  | soon *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sheep=Patient |
| 3 | **cry** *speech: express* | past |  | the king |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **speak** *speech: other* | past | sheep |  |  |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **appear** | past | the slim yellow dog |  |  | the forest |  | with the sheep in sheep's mouth | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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 Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 3454 (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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