---
title: I ran back to look for it, but found that meanwhile a fox which was… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: I ran back to look for it, but found that meanwhile a fox which was passing by had pulled my head out of the water, and was tearing at my brains. Who acts: I, fox. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Finest Liar in the World, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every
---

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# The Violet Fairy Book, The Finest Liar in the World, sentence 63

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
I ran back to look for it, but found that meanwhile a fox which was passing by had pulled my head out of the water, and was tearing at my brains.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** I, fox · **What happens:** run back, look, find, pass by, pull, tear · **To what, where:** fox, water, brains · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Finest Liar in the World. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (I, fox), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**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:pg641:3:63
# text = I ran back to look for it, but found that meanwhile a fox which was passing by had pulled my head out of the water, and was tearing at my brains.
1	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	ran	run	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	back	back	ADV	RB	_	2	advmod	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	look	look	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
6	for	for	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
9	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	found	find	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
11	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
12	meanwhile	meanwhile	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nsubj:pass	_	_
15	which	which	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	17	nsubj	_	_
16	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
17	passing	pass	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	14	acl:relcl	_	_
18	by	by	ADP	IN	_	17	obl	_	_
19	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
20	pulled	pull	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	ccomp	_	_
21	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	head	head	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obj	_	_
23	out	out	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	water	water	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
29	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	tearing	tear	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	2	advcl	_	_
31	at	at	ADP	IN	_	33	case	_	_
32	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	brains	brain	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	30	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **run back** | past | I |  |  |  |  |  | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **look** | to-infinitive | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  | for head | vn rummage-35.5 «NP V PP.location PP.theme»: agent=Agent for it=Theme |
| 3 | **find** | past | I *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V what S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 4 | **pass by** | past · progressive | a fox |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **pull** | past · perfect · passive |  | a fox |  | the water |  |  | vn slide-11.2 «NP V NP.destination PP.initial\_location»: subject=Destination head=Theme out water=Initial\_Location |
| 6 | **tear** | past · progressive | I *not said here* |  |  | my brains |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme at brain=Trajectory |

<!-- .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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