---
title: They were almost up to him when he dashed into a very narrow cleft i… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: They were almost up to him when he dashed into a very narrow cleft in the rock, much too small for them to follow; but in his hurry he had left one of his long ears sticking out, which they just managed to seize. Who acts: beasts, hare, one long ears. A sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew La
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 35, sentence 59

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
They were almost up to him when he dashed into a very narrow cleft in the rock, much too small for them to follow; but in his hurry he had left one of his long ears sticking out, which they just managed to seize.

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**Who acts:** beasts, hare, one long ears · **What happens:** be, dash, follow, leave, stick out, manage · **To what, where:** narrow cleft, hurry, one long ears

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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 (beasts, hare, one long ears), 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:pg5615:35:59
# text = They were almost up to him when he dashed into a very narrow cleft in the rock, much too small for them to follow; but in his hurry he had left one of his long ears sticking out, which they just managed to seize.
1	They	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
2	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
3	almost	almost	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
4	up	up	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	to	to	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	obl	_	_
7	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	9	advmod	_	_
8	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	dashed	dash	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
10	into	into	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
11	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
12	very	very	ADV	RB	_	13	advmod	_	_
13	narrow	narrow	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	amod	_	_
14	cleft	cleft	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	_
15	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	rock	rock	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
19	much	much	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
20	too	too	ADV	RB	_	21	advmod	_	_
21	small	small	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	amod	_	_
22	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	25	mark	_	_
23	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	nsubj	_	_
24	to	to	PART	TO	_	25	mark	_	_
25	follow	follow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	21	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
27	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
28	in	in	ADP	IN	_	30	case	_	_
29	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	30	nmod:poss	_	_
30	hurry	hurry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
32	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux	_	_
33	left	leave	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	9	conj	_	_
34	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	38	nummod	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	38	nmod:poss	_	_
37	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	33	conj	_	_
39	sticking	stick	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	38	acl	_	_
40	out	out	ADP	RP	_	39	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	45	obj	_	_
43	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	45	nsubj	_	_
44	just	just	ADV	RB	_	45	advmod	_	_
45	managed	manage	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	38	conj	_	_
46	to	to	PART	TO	_	47	mark	_	_
47	seize	seize	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	45	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | beasts *= beast* |  |  |  |  | up hare; almost *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **dash** | past | hare |  |  | a narrow cleft in the rock |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into cleft=Destination |
| 3 | **follow** | to-infinitive | beasts *= beast* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **leave** | past · perfect | hare |  |  |  |  | in hare's hurry *result* | vn become-109.1-1-1 «NP V PP.attribute»: agent=Patient in hurry=Result |
| 5 | **stick out** | gerund | hare's one long ears *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V ADV-Middle»: agent=Patient |
| 6 | **manage** | past | beasts *= beast* | hare's one long ears |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **seize** | to-infinitive | beasts *= beast* *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **hurry** |  | hare |  |  |  |  |  | nom hurry «state 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 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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