---
title: But it was tightly fixed, and would not come off, so Mr. Fox cursed… — English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: But it was tightly fixed, and would not come off, so Mr. Fox cursed and swore, and drew his sword, raised it, and brought it down upon the hand of the poor lady. Who acts: Mr. Fox. A sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Be Bold, Be Bold, But Not Too Bold., with its dependency tree and
---

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# English Fairy Tales, Be Bold, Be Bold, But Not Too Bold., sentence 8

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But it was tightly fixed, and would not come off, so Mr. Fox cursed and swore, and drew his sword, raised it, and brought it down upon the hand of the poor lady.

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**Who acts:** Mr. Fox · **What happens:** fix, not come off, curse, swear, draw, raise · **To what, where:** ring, sword

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This is a sentence of «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Be Bold, Be Bold, But Not Too Bold.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Mr. 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:pg7439:31:8
# text = But it was tightly fixed, and would not come off, so Mr. Fox cursed and swore, and drew his sword, raised it, and brought it down upon the hand of the poor lady.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux:pass	_	_
4	tightly	tightly	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	fixed	fix	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
9	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	10	advmod	_	_
10	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	conj	_	_
11	off	off	ADP	RP	_	10	compound:prt	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
13	so	so	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
14	Mr.	Mr.	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	15	compound	_	_
15	Fox	fox	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nsubj	_	_
16	cursed	curse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	18	cc	_	_
18	swore	swear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	21	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	21	cc	_	_
21	drew	draw	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	16	parataxis	_	_
22	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	23	nmod:poss	_	_
23	sword	sword	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	25	punct	_	_
25	raised	raise	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	21	conj	_	_
26	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	25	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
28	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	29	cc	_	_
29	brought	bring	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	25	conj	_	_
30	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	down	down	ADP	RP	_	29	compound:prt	_	_
32	upon	upon	ADP	IN	_	34	case	_	_
33	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	34	det	_	_
34	hand	hand	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	obl	_	_
35	of	of	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
36	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
37	poor	poor	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	38	amod	_	_
38	lady	lady	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **fix** | past · passive |  | ring |  |  |  | tightly *property* | vn shake-22.3-2 «NP V NP together»: subject=Patient |
| 2 | **not** **come off** | would |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-2 «NP V ADV»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **curse** | past | Mr. Fox |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **swear** | past | Mr. Fox *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn conjecture-29.5 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **draw** | past |  | Fox's sword |  |  |  |  | vn scribble-25.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent sword=Theme |
| 6 | **raise** | past |  | ring |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent it=Theme |
| 7 | **bring down** | past |  | ring |  |  |  | upon the hand of the poor lady | vn bring-11.3-1 «NP V NP together»: agent=Agent it=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:** «English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 7439 (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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