---
title: It happened one day, when he was out hunting, that a little white ra… — The Blue Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: It happened one day, when he was out hunting, that a little white rabbit, which his dogs were chasing, sprang into his arms for shelter. Who acts: It, king, dogs. A sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Darling, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Blue Fairy Book, Prince Darling, sentence 2

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It happened one day, when he was out hunting, that a little white rabbit, which his dogs were chasing, sprang into his arms for shelter.

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**Who acts:** It, king, dogs · **What happens:** happen, hunt, chase, spring · **To what, where:** little white rabbit, arms

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This is a sentence of «The Blue Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Prince Darling. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (It, king, dogs), 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:pg503:39:2
# text = It happened one day, when he was out hunting, that a little white rabbit, which his dogs were chasing, sprang into his arms for shelter.
1	It	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	day	day	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
7	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	out	out	ADP	RP	_	8	compound:prt	_	_
10	hunting	hunt	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	16	mark	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
14	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
15	white	white	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	rabbit	rabbit	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
18	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	22	obj	_	_
19	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	22	nsubj	_	_
21	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
22	chasing	chase	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
24	sprang	spring	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	10	conj	_	_
25	into	into	ADP	IN	_	27	case	_	_
26	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	27	nmod:poss	_	_
27	arms	arm	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	24	obl	_	_
28	for	for	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	shelter	shelter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **happen** | past | It |  |  |  | day |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **hunt** | past · progressive | king | a little white rabbit |  |  |  |  | vn hunt-35.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **chase** | past · progressive | king's dogs | a little white rabbit |  |  |  |  | vn chase-51.6 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme |
| 4 | **spring** | gerund | king *not said here* |  |  | king's arms |  | for shelter | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into arm=Destination |

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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 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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