---
title: The old man was fond of all creatures, and every morning he used to… — The Pink Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: The old man was fond of all creatures, and every morning he used to open the cage door, and the sparrow flew happily about until it caught sight of a cat or a rat or some other fierce beast, when it would instantly return to the cage, knowing that there no harm could come to it. Who acts: old man, m
---

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# The Pink Fairy Book, The Pink Fairy Book, part 36, sentence 51

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The old man was fond of all creatures, and every morning he used to open the cage door, and the sparrow flew happily about until it caught sight of a cat or a rat or some other fierce beast, when it would instantly return to the cage, knowing that there no harm could come to it.

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**Who acts:** old man, man, sparrow, some, harm · **What happens:** be, use, open, fly, catch, beast · **To what, where:** cage door, sight, cage, cat · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Pink Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Pink Fairy Book, part 36. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old man, man, sparrow, some), 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:pg5615:36:51
# text = The old man was fond of all creatures, and every morning he used to open the cage door, and the sparrow flew happily about until it caught sight of a cat or a rat or some other fierce beast, when it would instantly return to the cage, knowing that there no harm could come to it.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
2	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	3	amod	_	_
3	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
5	fond	fond	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	of	of	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
7	all	all	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	8	det	_	_
8	creatures	creature	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
11	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	12	det	_	_
12	morning	morning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl:unmarked	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
14	used	use	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	16	mark	_	_
16	open	open	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	xcomp	_	_
17	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	19	det	_	_
18	cage	cage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	compound	_	_
19	door	door	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	sparrow	sparrow	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
24	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
25	happily	happily	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
26	about	about	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	_
27	until	until	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
28	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
29	caught	catch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	advcl	_	_
30	sight	sight	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obj	_	_
31	of	of	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	33	det	_	_
33	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	nmod	_	_
34	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	36	cc	_	_
35	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	36	det	_	_
36	rat	rat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	_
37	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	41	cc	_	_
38	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	41	nsubj	_	_
39	other	other	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
40	fierce	fierce	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	41	amod	_	_
41	beast	beast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	47	punct	_	_
43	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	47	mark	_	_
44	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	47	nsubj	_	_
45	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	47	aux	_	_
46	instantly	instantly	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	return	return	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
48	to	to	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
49	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
50	cage	cage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	47	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	52	punct	_	_
52	knowing	know	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	47	advcl	_	_
53	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	58	mark	_	_
54	there	there	PRON	EX	PronType=Dem	58	expl	_	_
55	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	56	det	_	_
56	harm	harm	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	58	nsubj	_	_
57	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	58	aux	_	_
58	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	52	ccomp	_	_
59	to	to	ADP	IN	_	60	case	_	_
60	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	58	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
61	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the old man |  |  |  |  | of all creatures; fond *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **use** | past | man |  |  |  | morning |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **open** | to-infinitive | man *not said here* | the cage door |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location door=Theme |
| 4 | **fly** | past | the sparrow |  |  |  |  | about, happily *property* | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **catch** | past | Sparrow | sight of a cat or a rat or other fierce beast |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sight=Theme |
| 6 | **beast** |  | some |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **return** | would | Sparrow |  |  |  |  | to the cage *result*; instantly *property* | vn convert-26.6.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient to cage=Result |
| 8 | **know** | gerund | Sparrow *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 9 | **come** | could | no harm |  |  | cage; there |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to it=Initial\_Location |
| 10 | **sight** |  |  | a cat |  |  |  |  | nom sight «cognition transitive»: of=patient |

<!-- .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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