---
title: But it was not so easy to hit the shark’s mouth as he supposed, even… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But it was not so easy to hit the shark’s mouth as he supposed, even when the creature had turned on his back, and the first kuyu only struck one of his teeth and rolled into the water. Who acts: noise, first. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5, with it
---

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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/5/31/)

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5, sentence 31

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But it was not so easy to hit the shark’s mouth as he supposed, even when the creature had turned on his back, and the first kuyu only struck one of his teeth and rolled into the water.

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**Who acts:** noise, first · **What happens:** not be, hit, suppose, turn, strike, roll · **To what, where:** mouth, creature, back, one, water

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 5. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (noise, first), 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:pg3454:5:31
# text = But it was not so easy to hit the shark’s mouth as he supposed, even when the creature had turned on his back, and the first kuyu only struck one of his teeth and rolled into the water.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	expl	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	6	advmod	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	easy	easy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	hit	hit	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	shark	shark	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	’s	's	PART	POS	_	10	case	_	_
12	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
13	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	supposed	suppose	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	even	even	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
18	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	22	mark	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nsubj:pass	_	_
21	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	turned	turn	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	32	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	first	first	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos|NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord	32	nsubj	_	_
30	kuyu	kuyu	X	FW	Foreign=Yes	32	nsubj	_	_
31	only	only	ADV	RB	_	32	advmod	_	_
32	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
33	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	32	obj	_	_
34	of	of	ADP	IN	_	36	case	_	_
35	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	36	nmod:poss	_	_
36	teeth	tooth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	nmod	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	rolled	roll	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	32	conj	_	_
39	into	into	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | easy *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **hit** | to-infinitive |  | the shark's mouth |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme mouth=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **suppose** | past | noise |  |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **turn** | past · perfect · passive |  | the creature |  | noise's back |  |  | vn roll-51.3.1 «NP V NP.theme»: subject=Theme |
| 5 | **strike** | past | the first | one of noise's teeth |  |  |  |  | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=Patient |
| 6 | **roll** | participle | the first *not said here* |  |  | the water |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into water=Destination |

<!-- .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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