---
title: So he set himself to work to catch three hares alive, put them in a… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: So he set himself to work to catch three hares alive, put them in a bag, clad himself in some old rags so that he looked so poor and wretched that it was quite pitiable to see him, and in this guise on Sunday forenoon he sneaked into the passage with his bag, like any beggar boy. Who acts: man, it. 
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 112

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So he set himself to work to catch three hares alive, put them in a bag, clad himself in some old rags so that he looked so poor and wretched that it was quite pitiable to see him, and in this guise on Sunday forenoon he sneaked into the passage with his bag, like any beggar boy.

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**Who acts:** man, it · **What happens:** set, work, catch, put, clad, look · **To what, where:** man, three hares, hares, bag, old rags, guise

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This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, it), 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:pg540:9:112
# text = So he set himself to work to catch three hares alive, put them in a bag, clad himself in some old rags so that he looked so poor and wretched that it was quite pitiable to see him, and in this guise on Sunday forenoon he sneaked into the passage with his bag, like any beggar boy.
1	So	so	ADV	RB	_	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	set	set	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	3	obj	_	_
5	to	to	PART	TO	_	6	mark	_	_
6	work	work	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
7	to	to	PART	TO	_	8	mark	_	_
8	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	6	advcl	_	_
9	three	three	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	10	nummod	_	_
10	hares	hare	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	8	obj	_	_
11	alive	alive	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
13	put	put	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	conj	_	_
14	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	13	obj	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
19	clad	clad	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
20	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	19	obj	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
22	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	24	det	_	_
23	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	rags	rag	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	19	obl	_	_
25	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	28	mark	_	_
26	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	25	fixed	_	_
27	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	nsubj	_	_
28	looked	look	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
29	so	so	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	_
30	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	28	xcomp	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	32	cc	_	_
32	wretched	wretched	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	conj	_	_
33	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	37	mark	_	_
34	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	37	nsubj	_	_
35	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	37	cop	_	_
36	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
37	pitiable	pitiable	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	30	conj	_	_
38	to	to	PART	TO	_	39	mark	_	_
39	see	see	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	37	csubj	_	_
40	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	39	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	50	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	45	case	_	_
44	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	45	det	_	_
45	guise	guise	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	_
46	on	on	ADP	IN	_	48	case	_	_
47	Sunday	Sunday	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	48	compound	_	_
48	forenoon	forenoon	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	45	nmod	_	_
49	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	50	nsubj	_	_
50	sneaked	sneak	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	3	conj	_	_
51	into	into	ADP	IN	_	53	case	_	_
52	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	53	det	_	_
53	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	_
54	with	with	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
55	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	56	nmod:poss	_	_
56	bag	bag	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	61	punct	_	_
58	like	like	ADP	IN	_	61	case	_	_
59	any	any	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	61	det	_	_
60	beggar	beggar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	61	compound	_	_
61	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	50	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
62	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **set** | past | man | man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **work** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn employment-95.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **catch** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | three hares |  |  |  | alive *property* | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hare=Theme |
| 4 | **put** | infinitive | man *not said here* | hares *= hare* |  | a bag |  |  | vn put-9.1-2 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent they=Theme in bag=Destination |
| 5 | **clad** | past | man *not said here* | man |  | some old rags |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **look** | past | man |  |  |  |  | poor *property* | vn stimulus\_subject-30.4 «NP V ADJ»: agent=Stimulus |
| 7 | **is** | past | it |  |  |  |  | pitiable *property* | tree rules |
| 8 | **see** | to-infinitive |  | man |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 9 | **sneak** | past | man |  |  | this guise on Sunday forenoon |  | into the passage with man's bag; like any beggar boy | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into passage=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 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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