---
title: In order to test the truth of his statement about the dogs, he said… — The Green Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In order to test the truth of his statement about the dogs, he said at once, ‘Salt, I am hungry,’ and before the words were out of his mouth the dog had disappeared, and returned in a few minutes with a large basket full of the most delicious food. Who acts: stranger, I, words, dog. A sentence of «T
---

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# The Green Fairy Book, The Three Dogs, sentence 14

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In order to test the truth of his statement about the dogs, he said at once, ‘Salt, I am hungry,’ and before the words were out of his mouth the dog had disappeared, and returned in a few minutes with a large basket full of the most delicious food.

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**Who acts:** stranger, I, words, dog · **What happens:** test, say, be, have, return, state · **To what, where:** truth, Salt, mouth · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Green Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Three Dogs. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (stranger, I, words, dog), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**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:pg7277:56:14
# text = In order to test the truth of his statement about the dogs, he said at once, ‘Salt, I am hungry,’ and before the words were out of his mouth the dog had disappeared, and returned in a few minutes with a large basket full of the most delicious food.
1	In	in	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	4	mark	_	_
2	order	order	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	fixed	_	_
3	to	to	PART	TO	_	4	mark	_	_
4	test	test	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	advcl	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	truth	truth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
7	of	of	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
8	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
9	statement	statement	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nmod	_	_
10	about	about	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
12	dogs	dog	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
14	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	_
15	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	once	once	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Mult	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
19	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	Salt	salt	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
22	I	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	24	nsubj	_	_
23	am	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	appos	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	’	'	PUNCT	''	_	24	punct	_	_
27	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
28	before	before	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
29	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	30	det	_	_
30	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	35	nsubj	_	_
31	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	cop	_	_
32	out	out	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
33	of	of	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	35	nmod:poss	_	_
35	mouth	mouth	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	37	det	_	_
37	dog	dog	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	nsubj	_	_
38	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	35	acl:relcl	_	_
39	disappeared	disappeared	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
40	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	42	punct	_	_
41	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	42	cc	_	_
42	returned	return	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	15	conj	_	_
43	in	in	ADP	IN	_	46	case	_	_
44	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	46	det	_	_
45	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	46	amod	_	_
46	minutes	minute	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	42	obl	_	_
47	with	with	ADP	IN	_	50	case	_	_
48	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	50	det	_	_
49	large	large	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
50	basket	basket	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	42	obl	_	_
51	full	full	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	50	amod	_	_
52	of	of	ADP	IN	_	56	case	_	_
53	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	56	det	_	_
54	most	most	ADV	RBS	Degree=Sup	55	advmod	_	_
55	delicious	delicious	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	56	amod	_	_
56	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	51	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
57	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **test** | to-infinitive | stranger *not said here* | the truth of stranger's statement about the dogs |  |  |  |  | vn assessment-34.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent truth=Theme |
| 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | stranger | Salt and stranger's mouth |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **is** | present | I |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **is** | past | the words |  |  | stranger's mouth |  |  | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | past | the dog | stranger's mouth *not said here* |  |  |  | disappeared *property* | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouth=Patient |
| 6 | **return** | participle | stranger *not said here* |  |  |  | minute | with a large basket | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 7 | **state** |  | stranger |  |  |  |  | about the dogs | nom statement «communication transitive»: poss=agent about=obl |

<!-- .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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