---
title: Presently a fox passed by, and seeing the pair sitting together in a… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Presently a fox passed by, and seeing the pair sitting together in a disconsolate fashion, he asked them why they sat there, and what they were grumbling about. Who acts: fox, pair, cat. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The War of the Wolf and the Fox, with its dependency tree an
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The War of the Wolf and the Fox, sentence 26

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Presently a fox passed by, and seeing the pair sitting together in a disconsolate fashion, he asked them why they sat there, and what they were grumbling about.

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**Who acts:** fox, pair, cat · **What happens:** pass by, see, sit, ask, grumble · **To what, where:** pair, disconsolate fashion, cat

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The War of the Wolf and the Fox. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (fox, pair, cat), 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:pg7277:53:26
# text = Presently a fox passed by, and seeing the pair sitting together in a disconsolate fashion, he asked them why they sat there, and what they were grumbling about.
1	Presently	presently	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	by	by	ADP	IN	_	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	19	cc	_	_
8	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	pair	pair	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	obj	_	_
11	sitting	sit	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	10	acl	_	_
12	together	together	ADV	RB	_	11	advmod	_	_
13	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
14	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
15	disconsolate	disconsolate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	16	amod	_	_
16	fashion	fashion	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
18	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
20	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	obj	_	_
21	why	why	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	23	advmod	_	_
22	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	sat	sit	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	advcl	_	_
24	there	there	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
26	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
27	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	30	obj	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj	_	_
29	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
30	grumbling	grumble	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	19	advcl	_	_
31	about	about	ADV	RB	_	30	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **pass by** | participle | a fox |  |  |  |  | presently *property* | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **see** | gerund | fox *not said here* | the pair |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer pair=Stimulus |
| 3 | **sit** | gerund | the pair *not said here* |  |  | a disconsolate fashion |  | together *property* | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Agent in fashion=Location |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | fox |  | cat |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent they=Recipient |
| 5 | **sit** | past | cat |  |  | there |  |  | vn assuming\_position-50 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 6 | **grumble** *speech: other* | past · progressive | cat |  |  |  |  | about *property* | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Topic |

<!-- .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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