---
title: So the cats could always see the mice, but could not touch them, and… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So the cats could always see the mice, but could not touch them, and the hungry mice were tormented by the sight and smell of the delicious morsels which they could never seize. Who acts: cats, sight, mice, delicious morsels. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Branch, part
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Golden Branch, part 2, sentence 87

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
So the cats could always see the mice, but could not touch them, and the hungry mice were tormented by the sight and smell of the delicious morsels which they could never seize.

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**Who acts:** cats, sight, mice, delicious morsels · **What happens:** see, not touch, torment, not seize, smell · **To what, where:** mice, hungry mice, delicious morsels

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Golden Branch, part 2. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cats, sight, mice, delicious morsels), 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:pg540:35:87
# text = So the cats could always see the mice, but could not touch them, and the hungry mice were tormented by the sight and smell of the delicious morsels which they could never seize.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cats	cat	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
4	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
5	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	6	advmod	_	_
6	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
10	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	13	aux	_	_
12	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	13	advmod	_	_
13	touch	touch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	conj	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	19	amod	_	_
19	mice	mouse	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	21	nsubj	_	_
20	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	aux:pass	_	_
21	tormented	torment	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	advcl	_	_
22	by	by	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obl	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	26	cc	_	_
26	smell	smell	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	conj	_	_
27	of	of	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
29	delicious	delicious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	amod	_	_
30	morsels	morsel	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nmod	_	_
31	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	35	obj	_	_
32	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	nsubj	_	_
33	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	35	aux	_	_
34	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	35	advmod	_	_
35	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	30	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **see** | could | the cats | the mice |  |  |  | always *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer mouse=Stimulus |
| 2 | **not** **touch** | could | the cats *not said here* | mice *= mouse* |  |  |  |  | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Theme they=Co-Theme |
| 3 | **torment** | past · passive | the sight and smell of the delicious morsels | the hungry mice |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus subject=Experiencer |
| 4 | **not** **seize** | could | mice *= mouse* | the delicious morsels |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent which=Theme |
| 5 | **smell** |  | the delicious morsels |  |  |  |  |  | nom smell «cognition intransitive»: of=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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