--- title: The rabbit, frightened out of his wits, tried to deny the fact, excl… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: The rabbit, frightened out of his wits, tried to deny the fact, exclaiming, ‘Oh, no, indeed I never did;’ but Big Lion would not listen, and commanded them to cane him with a birch rod. Who acts: rabbit, I, Big Lion. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 35, w --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/35/49/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [The Pink Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/) / [The Pink Fairy Book, part 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/35/) / 49 # The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 35, sentence 49 The rabbit, frightened out of his wits, tried to deny the fact, exclaiming, ‘Oh, no, indeed I never did;’ but Big Lion would not listen, and commanded them to cane him with a birch rod. **Who acts:** rabbit, I, Big Lion · **What happens:** frighten, try, deny, exclaim, not do, ' · **To what, where:** rabbit, wits, fact · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 35. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (rabbit, I, Big Lion), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg5615:35:49 # text = The rabbit, frightened out of his wits, tried to deny the fact, exclaiming, ‘Oh, no, indeed I never did;’ but Big Lion would not listen, and commanded them to cane him with a birch rod. 1 The the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 2 det _ _ 2 rabbit rabbit NOUN NN Number=Sing 10 nsubj _ SpaceAfter=No 3 , , PUNCT , _ 4 punct _ _ 4 frightened frighten VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 2 acl _ _ 5 out out ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 6 of of ADP IN _ 8 case _ _ 7 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 8 nmod:poss _ _ 8 wits wit NOUN NNS Number=Plur 4 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 2 punct _ _ 10 tried try VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 11 to to PART TO _ 12 mark _ _ 12 deny deny VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 10 xcomp _ _ 13 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 fact fact NOUN NN Number=Sing 12 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 15 , , PUNCT , _ 16 punct _ _ 16 exclaiming exclaim VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 10 parataxis _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 28 punct _ _ 18 ‘ ' PUNCT `` _ 28 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 19 Oh oh INTJ UH _ 28 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 20 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 21 no no INTJ UH Polarity=Neg 19 discourse _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 19 punct _ _ 23 indeed indeed ADV RB _ 19 advmod _ _ 24 I I PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs 26 nsubj _ _ 25 never never ADV RB PronType=Neg 26 advmod _ _ 26 did do VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 19 acl:relcl _ SpaceAfter=No 27 ; ; PUNCT : _ 19 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 28 ’ ' VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 16 conj _ _ 29 but but CCONJ CC _ 34 cc _ _ 30 Big Big PROPN NNP Number=Sing 31 compound _ _ 31 Lion Lion PROPN NNP Number=Sing 34 nsubj _ _ 32 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 34 aux _ _ 33 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 34 advmod _ _ 34 listen listen VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 28 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 35 , , PUNCT , _ 37 punct _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 37 commanded command VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 10 conj _ _ 38 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ _ 39 to to PART TO _ 40 mark _ _ 40 cane cane NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obj _ _ 41 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obj _ _ 42 with with ADP IN _ 45 case _ _ 43 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 45 det _ _ 44 birch birch NOUN NN Number=Sing 45 compound _ _ 45 rod rod NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 46 . . PUNCT . _ 10 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **frighten** | participle | | the rabbit *not said here* | | rabbit's wits | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Experiencer | | 2 | **try** | past | the rabbit | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 3 | **deny** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the rabbit *not said here* | the fact | | | | | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V NP to be NP»: agent=Agent fact=Eventuality | | 4 | **exclaim** *speech: express* | gerund | | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent | | 5 | **not** **do** | past | I | | | | | | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 6 | **'** | infinitive | | | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **not** **listen** | would | Big Lion | | | | | | vn peer-30.3 «NP V PP.theme»: agent=Agent | | 8 | **command** | past | the rabbit *not said here* | wits *= wit* | | | | with a birch rod | tree rules | 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. **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. - ← previous: [sentence 48](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/35/48/) - next →: [sentence 50](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/35/50/) - ↑ back to [The Pink Fairy Book, part 35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg5615/35/)