--- title: He had besides in his trouser pocket a clasp knife with a bone handl… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: He had besides in his trouser pocket a clasp knife with a bone handle, to cut off the ears of the wolves as soon as he had killed them, for he thought it would be cruel to do that while they were still living. Who acts: Walter, it, ears. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/7/125/) [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 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/7/) / 125 # The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 7, sentence 125 He had besides in his trouser pocket a clasp knife with a bone handle, to cut off the ears of the wolves as soon as he had killed them, for he thought it would be cruel to do that while they were still living. **Who acts:** Walter, it, ears · **What happens:** besides, cut off, kill, think, be, do · **To what, where:** trouser pocket, ears, Walter, that · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 7. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Walter, it, ears), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg3454:7:125 # text = He had besides in his trouser pocket a clasp knife with a bone handle, to cut off the ears of the wolves as soon as he had killed them, for he thought it would be cruel to do that while they were still living. 1 He he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 2 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 aux _ _ 3 besides besides VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part 0 root _ _ 4 in in ADP IN _ 7 case _ _ 5 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 7 nmod:poss _ _ 6 trouser trouser NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 compound _ _ 7 pocket pocket NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obl _ _ 8 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 10 det _ _ 9 clasp clasp NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 compound _ _ 10 knife knife NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 appos _ _ 11 with with ADP IN _ 14 case _ _ 12 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 13 bone bone NOUN NN Number=Sing 14 compound _ _ 14 handle handle NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 17 punct _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 cut cut VERB VB Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 18 off off ADP RP _ 17 compound:prt _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 ears ear NOUN NNS Number=Plur 17 obj _ _ 21 of of ADP IN _ 23 case _ _ 22 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 23 wolves wolf NOUN NNS Number=Plur 20 nmod _ _ 24 as as ADV RB _ 25 advmod _ _ 25 soon soon ADV RB Degree=Pos 29 advmod _ _ 26 as as SCONJ IN _ 29 mark _ _ 27 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 nsubj:pass _ _ 28 had have AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 29 aux _ _ 29 killed kill VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 17 advcl _ _ 30 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 29 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 34 punct _ _ 32 for for SCONJ IN _ 34 mark _ _ 33 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 34 thought think VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 35 it it PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 38 nsubj _ _ 36 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 38 aux _ _ 37 be be AUX VB VerbForm=Inf 38 cop _ _ 38 cruel cruel ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 34 ccomp _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 do do VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 38 csubj _ _ 41 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 40 obj _ _ 42 while while SCONJ IN _ 46 mark _ _ 43 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 46 nsubj _ _ 44 were be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 46 aux _ _ 45 still still ADV RB _ 46 advmod _ _ 46 living live VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 40 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 47 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **besides** | past · perfect | Walter | | | Walter's trouser pocket | | | tree rules | | 2 | **cut off** | to-infinitive | | the ears of the wolves | | | | | vn stop-55.4-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector ear=Eventuality | | 3 | **kill** | past · perfect · passive | | Walter | | | | soon *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer they=Result | | 4 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Walter | | | | | | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **is** | would | it | | | | | cruel *property* | tree rules | | 6 | **do** | to-infinitive | | that | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent that=Eventuality | | 7 | **live** | past · progressive | ears *= ear* | | | | still | | vn exist-47.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 124](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/7/124/) - next →: [sentence 126](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/7/126/) - ↑ back to [The Lilac Fairy Book, part 7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/7/)