--- title: And first they met the watch-dog, who was going to leap on them and… — The Yellow Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: And first they met the watch-dog, who was going to leap on them and tear them to pieces; but they threw the remains of their bread to him, and he ate them and wagged his tail. Who acts: children, watch dog, dog. A sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch (28), with its dependenc --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/54/) [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 Yellow Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/) / [The Witch (28)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/) / 54 # The Yellow Fairy Book, The Witch (28), sentence 54 And first they met the watch-dog, who was going to leap on them and tear them to pieces; but they threw the remains of their bread to him, and he ate them and wagged his tail. **Who acts:** children, watch dog, dog · **What happens:** meet, go, leap, tear, throw, eat · **To what, where:** watch dog, children, remains, dog, tail This is a sentence of «The Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Witch (28). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (children, watch dog, dog), 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:pg640:39:54 # text = And first they met the watch-dog, who was going to leap on them and tear them to pieces; but they threw the remains of their bread to him, and he ate them and wagged his tail. 1 And and CCONJ CC _ 4 cc _ _ 2 first first ADV RB NumForm=Word|NumType=Ord 4 advmod _ _ 3 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 4 nsubj _ _ 4 met meet VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 5 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 8 det _ _ 6 watch watch NOUN NN Number=Sing 8 compound _ SpaceAfter=No 7 - - PUNCT HYPH _ 6 punct _ SpaceAfter=No 8 dog dog NOUN NN Number=Sing 4 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 9 , , PUNCT , _ 12 punct _ _ 10 who who PRON WP PronType=Rel 12 nsubj _ _ 11 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 12 aux _ _ 12 going go VERB VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 8 acl:relcl _ _ 13 to to PART TO _ 14 mark _ _ 14 leap leap VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 12 xcomp _ _ 15 on on ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 14 obl _ _ 17 and and CCONJ CC _ 18 cc _ _ 18 tear tear VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 14 conj _ _ 19 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 18 obj _ _ 20 to to ADP IN _ 21 case _ _ 21 pieces piece NOUN NNS Number=Plur 18 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 22 ; ; PUNCT : _ 25 punct _ _ 23 but but CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 24 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 nsubj _ _ 25 threw throw VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 4 conj _ _ 26 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 27 det _ _ 27 remains remains NOUN NNS Number=Ptan 25 obj _ _ 28 of of ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 30 nmod:poss _ _ 30 bread bread NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 nmod _ _ 31 to to ADP IN _ 32 case _ _ 32 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 25 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 33 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 34 and and CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 35 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 36 ate eat VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 25 conj _ _ 37 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 obj _ _ 38 and and CCONJ CC _ 39 cc _ _ 39 wagged wag VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 36 conj _ _ 40 his his PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 41 nmod:poss _ _ 41 tail tail NOUN NN Number=Sing 39 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 4 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **meet** | past | children *= child* | the watch dog | | | | first *property* | vn meet-36.3-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent dog=Co-Agent | | 2 | **go** | past · progressive | the watch dog | | | | | | vn say-37.7 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **leap** | to-infinitive | the watch dog *not said here* | | | | | on children *= child* | vn run-51.3.2-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme on they=Trajectory | | 4 | **tear** | infinitive | the watch dog *not said here* | children *= child* | | | | to pieces *result* | vn break-45.1 «NP V NP PP.result»: agent=Agent they=Patient to piece=Result | | 5 | **throw** | past | children *= child* | the remains of children's bread | dog | | | | vn throw-17.1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.destinations»: agent=Agent remains=Theme to he=Destination | | 6 | **eat** | past | dog | children *= child* | | | | | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Patient | | 7 | **wag** | past | dog *not said here* | dog's tail | | | | | vn crane-40.3.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent tail=Patient | 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 Yellow Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 640 (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 53](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/53/) - next →: [sentence 55](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/55/) - ↑ back to [The Witch (28)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg640/39/)