---
title: ‘“He was only trying to kiss you,” said the hare, “and you bit him,… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘“He was only trying to kiss you,” said the hare, “and you bit him, and of course that made him cross.” Who acts: lion, hare, you. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 6, sentence 46

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
‘“He was only trying to kiss you,” said the hare, “and you bit him, and of course that made him cross.”

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** lion, hare, you · **What happens:** try, kiss, say, bit, make, cross · **To what, where:** you, lion · **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 (lion, hare, you), 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:pg3454:6:46
# text = ‘“He was only trying to kiss you,” said the hare, “and you bit him, and of course that made him cross.”
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	trying	try	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	12	ccomp	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	kiss	kiss	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	xcomp	_	_
9	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Person=2|PronType=Prs	8	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
12	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	hare	hare	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
16	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	19	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
18	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	bit	bit	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	12	ccomp	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
23	of	of	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	course	course	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	fixed	_	_
25	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	obl	_	_
26	made	make	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
27	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	obj	_	_
28	cross	cross	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	26	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** *in a quote* | past · progressive | lion |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **kiss** *not said to happen, in a quote* | to-infinitive | lion *not said here* | you |  |  |  |  | vn marry-36.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent you=Co-Agent |
| 3 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the hare |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 4 | **bit** *in a quote* | present | you | lion |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **make** *in a quote* | past | you *not said here* | lion |  |  |  | of that | tree rules |
| 6 | **cross** *in a quote* | infinitive | lion *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «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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