--- title: Then he called the fox, and told him to mount guard over the dead ox… — The Violet Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: Then he called the fox, and told him to mount guard over the dead ox, and if a bird came past and tried to peck at the flesh he was to catch it and bring it to the lion. Who acts: straightway, bird. A sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Princes and Their Beasts (lithuanian --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/5/80/) [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 Violet Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/) / [The Three Princes and Their Beasts (li…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/5/) / 80 # The Violet Fairy Book, The Three Princes and Their Beasts (lithuanian Fairy Tale), sentence 80 Then he called the fox, and told him to mount guard over the dead ox, and if a bird came past and tried to peck at the flesh he was to catch it and bring it to the lion. **Who acts:** straightway, bird · **What happens:** call, tell, mount, come, try, peck · **To what, where:** fox, straightway, guard, dead ox, bird, lion · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «The Violet Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Princes and Their Beasts (lithuanian Fairy Tale). The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (straightway, bird), 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:pg641:5:80 # text = Then he called the fox, and told him to mount guard over the dead ox, and if a bird came past and tried to peck at the flesh he was to catch it and bring it to the lion. 1 Then then ADV RB PronType=Dem 3 advmod _ _ 2 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 called call VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 5 det _ _ 5 fox fox NOUN NN Number=Sing 3 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 6 , , PUNCT , _ 8 punct _ _ 7 and and CCONJ CC _ 8 cc _ _ 8 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 9 him he PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 8 iobj _ _ 10 to to PART TO _ 11 mark _ _ 11 mount mount VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 8 xcomp _ _ 12 guard guard NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obj _ _ 13 over over ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 16 det _ _ 15 dead dead ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 16 amod _ _ 16 ox ox NOUN NN Number=Sing 11 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 17 , , PUNCT , _ 22 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 22 cc _ _ 19 if if SCONJ IN _ 22 mark _ _ 20 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 21 det _ _ 21 bird bird NOUN NN Number=Sing 22 nsubj _ _ 22 came come VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 parataxis _ _ 23 past past ADV RB _ 22 advmod _ _ 24 and and CCONJ CC _ 25 cc _ _ 25 tried try VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 22 conj _ _ 26 to to PART TO _ 27 mark _ _ 27 peck peck VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 25 xcomp _ _ 28 at at ADP IN _ 30 case _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 flesh flesh NOUN NN Number=Sing 27 obl _ _ 31 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 nsubj _ _ 32 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 34 cop _ _ 33 to to PART TO _ 34 mark _ _ 34 catch catch VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 27 conj _ _ 35 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 34 obj _ _ 36 and and CCONJ CC _ 37 cc _ _ 37 bring bring VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 34 conj _ _ 38 it it PRON PRP Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 37 obj _ _ 39 to to ADP IN _ 41 case _ _ 40 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 41 det _ _ 41 lion lion NOUN NN Number=Sing 37 obl _ SpaceAfter=No 42 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **call** *speech: assert* | past | straightway | | the fox | | then | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent fox=Recipient | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | straightway *not said here* | | straightway | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent he=Recipient clause=Topic | | 3 | **mount** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | straightway *not said here* | guard | | the dead ox | | | vn put-9.1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent guard=Theme over ox=Destination | | 4 | **come** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | a bird | | | | | past *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 5 | **try** | past | a bird *not said here* | | | | | | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality | | 6 | **peck** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | a bird *not said here* | | | | | at the flesh | vn chew-39.2 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at flesh=Patient | | 7 | **is** | past | straightway | | | | | catch *property* | tree rules | | 8 | **bring** | infinitive | straightway *not said here* | bird | the lion | | | | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP PP.destination»: agent=Agent it=Theme to lion=Destination | 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 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. - ← previous: [sentence 79](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/5/79/) - next →: [sentence 81](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/5/81/) - ↑ back to [The Three Princes and Their Beasts (lithuanian Fairy Tale)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg641/5/)