---
title: If we had only had a fierce watchdog he would have kept them away.’ — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: If we had only had a fierce watchdog he would have kept them away.’ Who acts: we. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 32, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 32, sentence 39

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If we had only had a fierce watchdog he would have kept them away.’

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**Who acts:** we · **What happens:** have, keep away · **To what, where:** fierce watchdog, deal

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 32. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (we), 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:pg5615:32:39
# text = If we had only had a fierce watchdog he would have kept them away.’
1	If	if	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	we	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	had	have	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	12	advcl	_	_
6	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
7	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	8	amod	_	_
8	watchdog	watchdog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
9	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	nsubj:pass	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	12	aux	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	12	aux	_	_
12	kept	keep	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	12	obj	_	_
14	away	away	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	12	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · perfect | we | a fierce watchdog |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent watchdog=Patient |
| 2 | **keep away** | would · perfect · passive |  | deal |  |  |  | away *property* | vn sustain-55.6-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Theme they=Attribute |

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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 Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 5615 (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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