---
title: Was that the wolf which Walter was to take by the neck and shake and… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Was that the wolf which Walter was to take by the neck and shake and throw down on its back, no matter how much it struggled? Who acts: wolf. A sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 85

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Was that the wolf which Walter was to take by the neck and shake and throw down on its back, no matter how much it struggled?

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**Who acts:** wolf · **What happens:** be, shake, throw down, struggle · **To what, where:** back, much

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This is a sentence of «The Lilac Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (wolf), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg3454:8:85
# text = Was that the wolf which Walter was to take by the neck and shake and throw down on its back, no matter how much it struggled?
1	Was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
2	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
5	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	0	root	_	_
6	Walter	Walter	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
8	to	to	PART	TO	_	9	mark	_	_
9	take	take	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	6	appos	_	_
10	by	by	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	neck	neck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
13	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
14	shake	shake	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	9	conj	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	throw	throw	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	14	conj	_	_
17	down	down	ADP	RP	_	16	compound:prt	_	_
18	on	on	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	back	back	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
22	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	23	det	_	_
23	matter	matter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	appos	_	_
24	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	25	advmod	_	_
25	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	nsubj:pass	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
27	struggled	struggle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	16	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | the wolf |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | by the neck; take *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **shake** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 4 | **throw down** | infinitive |  |  |  | neck's back |  |  | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent on back=Destination |
| 5 | **struggle** | participle · passive |  | much |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

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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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