---
title: But it was too strong and well-built; and though the fox scraped and… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But it was too strong and well-built; and though the fox scraped and tore at the bricks with his paws he only hurt himself, and at last he had to give it up, and limp away with his fore-paws all bleeding and sore. Who acts: force, fox. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three L
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Three Little Pigs, sentence 62

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But it was too strong and well-built; and though the fox scraped and tore at the bricks with his paws he only hurt himself, and at last he had to give it up, and limp away with his fore-paws all bleeding and sore.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** force, fox · **What happens:** be, build, scrape, hurt, have, give up · **To what, where:** fox, last, force

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Little Pigs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (force, 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:pg7277:13:62
# text = But it was too strong and well-built; and though the fox scraped and tore at the bricks with his paws he only hurt himself, and at last he had to give it up, and limp away with his fore-paws all bleeding and sore.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	too	too	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	strong	strong	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
7	well	well	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	9	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	7	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	built	build	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
11	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	15	cc	_	_
12	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	15	mark	_	_
13	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
15	scraped	scrape	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
16	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	17	cc	_	_
17	tore	tore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	conj	_	_
18	at	at	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	bricks	brick	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	15	obl	_	_
21	with	with	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	nmod	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	26	nsubj	_	_
25	only	only	ADV	RB	_	26	advmod	_	_
26	hurt	hurt	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	acl:relcl	_	_
27	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	26	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
28	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	33	punct	_	_
29	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	33	cc	_	_
30	at	at	ADP	IN	_	31	case	_	_
31	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	33	obl	_	_
32	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj	_	_
33	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	15	conj	_	_
34	to	to	PART	TO	_	35	mark	_	_
35	give	give	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	33	xcomp	_	_
36	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	_
37	up	up	ADP	RP	_	35	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	40	punct	_	_
39	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	40	cc	_	_
40	limp	limp	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	5	parataxis	_	_
41	away	away	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	_
42	with	with	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	46	nmod:poss	_	_
44	fore	fore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	46	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
45	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	44	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
46	paws	paw	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	40	obl	_	_
47	all	all	ADV	RB	_	48	advmod	_	_
48	bleeding	bleed	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	40	advcl	_	_
49	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	50	cc	_	_
50	sore	sore	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	48	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
51	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | force |  |  |  |  | strong *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **build** | participle | force *not said here* |  |  |  |  | well *property* | vn calibratable\_cos-45.6.1 «NP.attribute V»: agent=Attribute |
| 3 | **scrape** | past | the fox |  |  |  |  | at the bricks with fox's paws | vn cut-21.1-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent at brick=Patient |
| 4 | **hurt** | past | fox | fox |  |  |  |  | vn hurt-40.8.3-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer himself=Patient |
| 5 | **have** | past | fox |  |  | last |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **give up** | to-infinitive | fox *not said here* | force |  |  |  |  | vn resign-10.11-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Source |
| 7 | **limp away** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | with fox's fore paws; away *property* | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 8 | **bleed** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | all *property* | vn substance\_emission-43.4-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Source |

<!-- .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 Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 7277 (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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