---
title: The little man had been sitting on the bank fishing, when unfortunat… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The little man had been sitting on the bank fishing, when unfortunately the wind had entangled his beard in the line; and when immediately afterward a big fish bit, the feeble little creature had no strength to pull it out; the fish had the upper fin, and dragged the dwarf toward him. Who acts: litt
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Snow-white and Rose-red, sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
The little man had been sitting on the bank fishing, when unfortunately the wind had entangled his beard in the line; and when immediately afterward a big fish bit, the feeble little creature had no strength to pull it out; the fish had the upper fin, and dragged the dwarf toward him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** little man, feeble little creature, strength, fish · **What happens:** sit, entangle, have, pull out, drag · **To what, where:** bank fishing, wind, line, strength, upper fin, dwarf

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Snow-white and Rose-red. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (little man, feeble little creature, strength, fish), 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:pg503:36:63
# text = The little man had been sitting on the bank fishing, when unfortunately the wind had entangled his beard in the line; and when immediately afterward a big fish bit, the feeble little creature had no strength to pull it out; the fish had the upper fin, and dragged the dwarf toward him.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
4	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	6	aux	_	_
6	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
7	on	on	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
8	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
9	bank	bank	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	compound	_	_
10	fishing	fishing	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
12	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	17	advmod	_	_
13	unfortunately	unfortunately	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
16	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	entangled	entangle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	6	parataxis	_	_
18	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	beard	beard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obj	_	_
20	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
21	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	22	det	_	_
22	line	line	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	17	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	37	punct	_	_
24	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	37	cc	_	_
25	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	26	advmod	_	_
26	immediately	immediately	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
27	afterward	afterward	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
28	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	31	det	_	_
29	big	big	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	amod	_	_
30	fish	fish	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	compound	_	_
31	bit	bit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
34	feeble	feeble	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
35	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	36	amod	_	_
36	creature	creature	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nsubj	_	_
37	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
38	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	39	det	_	_
39	strength	strength	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	obj	_	_
40	to	to	PART	TO	_	41	mark	_	_
41	pull	pull	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	xcomp	_	_
42	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	41	obj	_	_
43	out	out	ADP	RP	_	41	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
44	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	47	punct	_	_
45	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
46	fish	fish	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	47	nsubj	_	_
47	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
48	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	upper	upper	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	fin	fin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
52	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	_
53	dragged	drag	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	47	conj	_	_
54	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	55	det	_	_
55	dwarf	dwarf	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obj	_	_
56	toward	toward	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
57	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **sit** | past · perfect · progressive | the little man |  |  | the bank fishing |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent on fishing=Location |
| 2 | **entangle** | past · perfect · passive |  | the wind |  | the line |  | unfortunately *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **have** | past | the feeble little creature | no strength |  |  |  | afterward a big fish bit; immediately *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **pull out** | to-infinitive | no strength *not said here* | strength |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | past | the fish | the upper fin |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent fin=Patient |
| 6 | **drag** | past | the fish *not said here* | the dwarf |  |  |  | toward fish | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dwarf=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 Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 503 (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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