---
title: ‘Two or three weeks passed, and only bare places on the donkey’s bac… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘Two or three weeks passed, and only bare places on the donkey’s back showed where the lion’s claws had been, while, on his side, the lion had recovered from his illness and was now as strong as ever. Who acts: Two weeks, bare places, claws. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The L
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 31

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘Two or three weeks passed, and only bare places on the donkey’s back showed where the lion’s claws had been, while, on his side, the lion had recovered from his illness and was now as strong as ever.

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**Who acts:** Two weeks, bare places, claws · **What happens:** pass, show, be, recover · **To what, where:** lion, side · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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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 (Two weeks, bare places, claws), 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:pg3454:6:31
# text = ‘Two or three weeks passed, and only bare places on the donkey’s back showed where the lion’s claws had been, while, on his side, the lion had recovered from his illness and was now as strong as ever.
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Two	two	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	5	nummod	_	_
3	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
4	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	2	conj	_	_
5	weeks	week	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
6	passed	pass	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
9	only	only	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
10	bare	bare	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	places	place	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nsubj	_	_
12	on	on	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	donkey	donkey	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	’s	's	PART	POS	_	14	case	_	_
16	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	nmod	_	_
17	showed	show	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
18	where	where	ADV	WRB	PronType=Rel	24	advmod	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	’s	's	PART	POS	_	20	case	_	_
22	claws	claw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	nsubj	_	_
23	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	aux	_	_
24	been	be	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
26	while	while	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	on	on	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	side	side	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
32	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	lion	lion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nsubj:pass	_	_
34	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
35	recovered	recover	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	17	conj	_	_
36	from	from	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
38	illness	illness	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	obl	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	43	cc	_	_
40	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	43	cop	_	_
41	now	now	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	43	advmod	_	_
42	as	as	ADV	RB	_	43	advmod	_	_
43	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	35	conj	_	_
44	as	as	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
45	ever	ever	ADV	RB	PronType=Ind	43	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass** | past | Two weeks |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **show** | past | bare places on the donkey's back |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **be** | past · perfect | the lion's claws |  |  |  |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **recover** | past · perfect · passive |  | the lion |  | lion's side |  | from lion's illness | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: subject=Theme from illness=Source |
| 5 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  | now | strong *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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