---
title: Again and again he struck at her with his claws, but the donkey coul… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Again and again he struck at her with his claws, but the donkey could bite too, as well as the lion, who was very weak after his illness, and at last a well-planted kick knocked him right over, and he rolled on the floor, groaning with pain. Who acts: lion, donkey, last. A sentence of «The Lilac Fai
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 20

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Again and again he struck at her with his claws, but the donkey could bite too, as well as the lion, who was very weak after his illness, and at last a well-planted kick knocked him right over, and he rolled on the floor, groaning with pain.

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**Who acts:** lion, donkey, last · **What happens:** strike, bite, be, plant, knock, roll · **To what, where:** lion, floor

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (lion, donkey, last), 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:pg3454:6:20
# text = Again and again he struck at her with his claws, but the donkey could bite too, as well as the lion, who was very weak after his illness, and at last a well-planted kick knocked him right over, and he rolled on the floor, groaning with pain.
1	Again	again	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
2	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	3	cc	_	_
3	again	again	ADV	RB	_	1	conj	_	_
4	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
5	struck	strike	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	at	at	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	her	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	_
8	with	with	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	10	nmod:poss	_	_
10	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
15	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	16	aux	_	_
16	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
17	too	too	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
19	as	as	ADV	RB	ExtPos=CCONJ	23	cc	_	_
20	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	19	fixed	_	_
21	as	as	ADP	IN	_	19	fixed	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	28	nsubj	_	_
26	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	28	cop	_	_
27	very	very	ADV	RB	_	28	advmod	_	_
28	weak	weak	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	conj	_	_
29	after	after	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	illness	illness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	41	punct	_	_
33	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
34	at	at	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
35	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	nsubj:outer	_	_
36	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	40	det	_	_
37	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	39	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	37	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	planted	plant	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	40	amod	_	_
40	kick	kick	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
41	knocked	knock	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
42	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	right	right	ADV	RB	_	44	advmod	_	_
44	over	over	ADV	RB	_	41	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	48	punct	_	_
46	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	48	cc	_	_
47	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	48	nsubj	_	_
48	rolled	roll	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
49	on	on	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	51	det	_	_
51	floor	floor	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
53	groaning	groan	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	48	advcl	_	_
54	with	with	ADP	IN	_	55	case	_	_
55	pain	pain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
56	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **strike** | past | lion |  |  |  | again | at donkey; with lion's claws | vn hit-18.1-1 «NP V PP PP»: agent=Agent at she=Patient with claw=Instrument |
| 2 | **bite** | could | the donkey |  |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | past | the lion |  |  |  | after lion's illness | weak *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **plant** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn establish-55.5-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **knock** | past | last | lion |  |  |  | over *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V NP apart»: agent=Agent he=Patient |
| 6 | **roll** | past | lion |  |  | the floor |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on floor=Trajectory |
| 7 | **groan** | gerund | lion *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with pain | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP.location V PP.theme»: agent=Location with pain=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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