---
title: Why had no one ever given it that before, and so absorbed was the li… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Why had no one ever given it that before, and so absorbed was the little beast, sniffing about after a few more crumbs, that it never heard Peronnik creep up till it felt the halter on its neck and the rope round its feet, and--in another moment--some one on its back. Who acts: absorbed little beast
---

<!-- md -->
[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/27/13/)

<!-- crumbs -->
[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 Lilac Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/) / [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/27/) / 13

# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 27, sentence 13

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Why had no one ever given it that before, and so absorbed was the little beast, sniffing about after a few more crumbs, that it never heard Peronnik creep up till it felt the halter on its neck and the rope round its feet, and--in another moment--some one on its back.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** absorbed little beast, bread, Peronnik · **What happens:** give, absorb, be, sniff, not hear, creep up · **To what, where:** one, absorbed little beast, halter, neck · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac 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 (absorbed little beast, bread, Peronnik), 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:pg3454:27:13
# text = Why had no one ever given it that before, and so absorbed was the little beast, sniffing about after a few more crumbs, that it never heard Peronnik creep up till it felt the halter on its neck and the rope round its feet, and--in another moment--some one on its back.
1	Why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	6	advmod	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
3	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	4	det	_	_
4	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj:pass	_	_
5	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	6	advmod	_	_
6	given	give	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	obj	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
9	before	before	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
12	so	so	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	absorbed	absorb	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	amod	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	cop	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
16	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
17	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	sniffing	sniff	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	17	acl	_	_
20	about	about	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
21	after	after	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
23	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	25	amod	_	_
24	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	25	amod	_	_
25	crumbs	crumb	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
27	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	30	mark	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	30	advmod	_	_
30	heard	hear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
31	Peronnik	Peronnik	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	32	nsubj	_	_
32	creep	creep	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	30	ccomp	_	_
33	up	up	ADP	RP	_	32	compound:prt	_	_
34	till	till	SCONJ	IN	_	36	mark	_	_
35	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	nsubj	_	_
36	felt	feel	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	ccomp	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	halter	halter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obj	_	_
39	on	on	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	41	nmod:poss	_	_
41	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	36	obl	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	44	cc	_	_
43	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	44	det	_	_
44	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	conj	_	_
45	round	round	ADP	IN	_	47	case	_	_
46	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
47	feet	foot	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
50	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	in	in	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	another	another	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	53	det	_	_
53	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	49	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
54	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	56	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
55	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	56	det	_	_
56	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	appos	_	_
57	on	on	ADP	IN	_	59	case	_	_
58	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	59	nmod:poss	_	_
59	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	56	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
60	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **give** | past · perfect · passive |  | no one |  |  | ever | before *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP-Dative NP»: subject=Recipient it=Theme |
| 2 | **absorb** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn absorb-39.8 «NP V NP»: agent=Goal |
| 3 | **is a** | past |  | the absorbed little beast |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **sniff** | gerund | the absorbed little beast *not said here* |  |  |  | after a few more crumbs | about *property* | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **hear** | past | bread |  |  |  |  |  | vn see-30.1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **creep up** | present | Peronnik |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **feel** | past | bread | the halter |  | bread's neck and the rope |  | round bread's feet | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V NP PP.location»: agent=Agent halter=Theme on neck=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.

<!-- div src -->

**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.

<!-- /div -->

<!-- pn -->
- ← previous: [sentence 12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/27/12/)
- next →: [sentence 14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/27/14/)
- ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/27/)