---
title: ‘It was only a dog, then if it had been a wolf I certainly should ha… — The Lilac Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: ‘It was only a dog, then if it had been a wolf I certainly should have killed him....’ Who acts: matter, 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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[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg3454/8/92/)

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# The Lilac Fairy Book, The Lilac Fairy Book, part 8, sentence 92

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‘It was only a dog, then if it had been a wolf I certainly should have killed him....’

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**Who acts:** matter, wolf · **What happens:** be, kill · **To what, where:** dog, wolf, I

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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 (matter, 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:pg3454:8:92
# text = ‘It was only a dog, then if it had been a wolf I certainly should have killed him....’
1	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
8	then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	14	advmod	_	_
9	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
10	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
11	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
12	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	cop	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	wolf	wolf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	appos	_	_
15	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	certainly	certainly	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
17	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
18	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	aux	_	_
19	killed	kill	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	14	acl:relcl	_	_
20	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	....	....	PUNCT	.	_	14	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | past | matter | a dog |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | matter | a wolf |  |  | then |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **kill** | should · perfect · passive | a wolf *not said here* | I |  |  |  | certainly *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Experiencer he=Result |

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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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