---
title: But the cat was even more startled than the boar, and, spitting with… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the cat was even more startled than the boar, and, spitting with terror, she scrambled up into the fork of the tree, and as it happened right into the bear’s face. Who acts: boar, it. A sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The War of the Wolf and the Fox, with its dependency tree a
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The War of the Wolf and the Fox, sentence 43

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But the cat was even more startled than the boar, and, spitting with terror, she scrambled up into the fork of the tree, and as it happened right into the bear’s face.

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**Who acts:** boar, it · **What happens:** startle, spit, scramble up, happen · **To what, where:** cat, fork, face

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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 (boar, it), 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:pg7277:53:43
# text = But the cat was even more startled than the boar, and, spitting with terror, she scrambled up into the fork of the tree, and as it happened right into the bear’s face.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cat	cat	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj:pass	_	_
4	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	aux:pass	_	_
5	even	even	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	7	advmod	_	_
7	startled	startle	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
8	than	than	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	boar	boar	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
14	spitting	spit	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	advcl	_	_
15	with	with	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
16	terror	terror	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	19	punct	_	_
18	she	she	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Fem|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
19	scrambled	scramble	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	7	parataxis	_	_
20	up	up	ADP	RP	_	19	compound:prt	_	_
21	into	into	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	fork	fork	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	19	obl	_	_
24	of	of	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
25	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
26	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	23	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	31	cc	_	_
29	as	as	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
31	happened	happen	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	19	conj	_	_
32	right	right	ADV	RB	_	37	advmod	_	_
33	into	into	ADP	IN	_	37	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	bear	bear	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	37	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	’s	's	PART	POS	_	35	case	_	_
37	face	face	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
38	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	7	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **startle** | past · passive |  | the cat |  |  |  | than the boar | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Experiencer |
| 2 | **spit** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | with terror | vn weather-57 «It V PP.theme»: with terror=Theme |
| 3 | **scramble up** | past | boar |  |  | the fork of the tree |  |  | vn run-51.3.2 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme into fork=Destination |
| 4 | **happen** | past | it |  |  | the bear's face |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .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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