---
title: Before he had quite grasped the fact that this was an impossible tas… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Before he had quite grasped the fact that this was an impossible task, the keepers had opened the sacks in which the hares were brought to the field, and, with a whisk of the short tail and a flap of the long ears, each one of the hundred flew in a different direction. Who acts: Jesper, this, keeper
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, Jesper Who Herded the Hares, sentence 96

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Before he had quite grasped the fact that this was an impossible task, the keepers had opened the sacks in which the hares were brought to the field, and, with a whisk of the short tail and a flap of the long ears, each one of the hundred flew in a different direction.

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**Who acts:** Jesper, this, keepers, whisk · **What happens:** grasp, be, open, bring, fly · **To what, where:** fact, impossible task, sacks, hares, different direction

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This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Jesper Who Herded the Hares. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Jesper, this, keepers, whisk), 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:pg641:24:96
# text = Before he had quite grasped the fact that this was an impossible task, the keepers had opened the sacks in which the hares were brought to the field, and, with a whisk of the short tail and a flap of the long ears, each one of the hundred flew in a different direction.
1	Before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	grasped	grasp	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
6	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
7	fact	fact	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
9	this	this	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	13	nsubj	_	_
10	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	13	cop	_	_
11	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	impossible	impossible	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	task	task	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	13	punct	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	keepers	keeper	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	nsubj	_	_
17	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	18	aux	_	_
18	opened	open	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	7	acl	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	sacks	sack	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	18	obj	_	_
21	in	in	ADP	IN	_	22	case	_	_
22	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	26	obl	_	_
23	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
24	hares	hare	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	nsubj:pass	_	_
25	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	aux:pass	_	_
26	brought	bring	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	20	acl:relcl	_	_
27	to	to	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	53	punct	_	_
31	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	53	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
33	with	with	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	whisk	whisk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	nsubj	_	_
36	of	of	ADP	IN	_	39	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	39	det	_	_
38	short	short	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	39	amod	_	_
39	tail	tail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
40	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
41	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	42	det	_	_
42	flap	flap	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	_
43	of	of	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	long	long	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	ears	ear	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
47	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	49	punct	_	_
48	each	each	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	49	det	_	_
49	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	conj	_	_
50	of	of	ADP	IN	_	52	case	_	_
51	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	52	det	_	_
52	hundred	hundred	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	49	nmod	_	_
53	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
54	in	in	ADP	IN	_	57	case	_	_
55	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	57	det	_	_
56	different	different	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	57	amod	_	_
57	direction	direction	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	53	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
58	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grasp** | past · perfect | Jesper | the fact |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer fact=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is a** | past | this | a impossible task |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **open** | past · perfect | the keepers | the sacks |  |  |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «PP.location V NP»: agent=Location sack=Theme |
| 4 | **bring** | past · passive |  | the hares |  | the sacks |  | to the field | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: subject=Theme to field=Destination |
| 5 | **fly** | past | a whisk of the short tail and a flap of the long ears and each one of the hundred |  |  | a different direction |  |  | vn spatial\_configuration-47.6-1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in direction=Location |

<!-- .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 Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 641 (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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