---
title: His surprise was great when he presently saw a little green dog with… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: His surprise was great when he presently saw a little green dog with one ear slip softly into the kitchen, uncover the pot, transfer all its contents to his basket, and run off. Who acts: surprise, thing. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Princess Rosette, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, Princess Rosette, sentence 246

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His surprise was great when he presently saw a little green dog with one ear slip softly into the kitchen, uncover the pot, transfer all its contents to his basket, and run off.

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**Who acts:** surprise, thing · **What happens:** be, see, slip, uncover, transfer, run off · **To what, where:** little green dog, kitchen, pot, contents, basket

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Princess Rosette. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (surprise, thing), 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:pg540:11:246
# text = His surprise was great when he presently saw a little green dog with one ear slip softly into the kitchen, uncover the pot, transfer all its contents to his basket, and run off.
1	His	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	2	nmod:poss	_	_
2	surprise	surprise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	cop	_	_
4	great	great	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
5	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	8	advmod	_	_
6	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	8	nsubj	_	_
7	presently	presently	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
10	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
11	green	green	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
13	with	with	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	ear	ear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	_
16	slip	slip	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
17	softly	softly	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
18	into	into	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	kitchen	kitchen	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
22	uncover	uncover	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	pot	pot	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	transfer	transfer	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
27	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	29	det:predet	_	_
28	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	29	nmod:poss	_	_
29	contents	contents	NOUN	NNS	Number=Ptan	26	obj	_	_
30	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
31	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
32	basket	basket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	run	run	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	22	conj	_	_
36	off	off	ADP	RP	_	35	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | thing's surprise |  |  |  |  | great *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **see** | past | thing | a little green dog |  |  |  | presently *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer dog=Stimulus |
| 3 | **slip** | present |  |  |  | the kitchen |  | with one ear; softly *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1-1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 4 | **uncover** | infinitive |  | the pot |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **transfer** | infinitive |  | pot's contents | thing's basket |  |  |  | vn contribute-13.2-2 «NP V NP PP.recipient»: agent=Agent contents=Theme to basket=Recipient |
| 6 | **run off** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **surprise** |  | thing |  |  |  |  |  | nom surprise «feeling transitive»: poss=agent |

<!-- .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 Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (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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