---
title: But the King replied, "Be silent, and let him go; he is my very fait… — Grimm's Fairy Stories · tree and pragmatics
description: But the King replied, "Be silent, and let him go; he is my very faithful John--who knows the good he may have done?" Who acts: King, faithful John. A sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Faithful John, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Grimm's Fairy Stories, Faithful John, sentence 78

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But the King replied, "Be silent, and let him go; he is my very faithful John--who knows the good he may have done?"

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**Who acts:** King, faithful John · **What happens:** reply, be, let, go, know, do · **To what, where:** King, faithful John, good · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Faithful John. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (King, faithful John), 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:pg11027:16:78
# text = But the King replied, "Be silent, and let him go; he is my very faithful John--who knows the good he may have done?"
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	replied	reply	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	8	punct	_	_
6	"	"	PUNCT	``	_	8	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	Be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	8	cop	_	_
8	silent	silent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
11	let	let	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	8	parataxis	_	_
12	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obj	_	_
13	go	go	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
16	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
17	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
18	very	very	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	faithful	faithful	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	20	amod	_	_
20	John	John	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	4	parataxis	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	--	--	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	23	nsubj	_	_
23	knows	know	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	acl:relcl	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	25	det	_	_
25	good	good	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	23	obj	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	nsubj	_	_
27	may	may	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	aux	_	_
29	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	20	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	"	"	PUNCT	''	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reply** *speech: ask* | past | the King |  |  |  |  |  | vn say-37.7-1 «NP V S-Quote»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 2 | **is** *in a quote* | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | silent *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **let** *in a quote* | infinitive |  | King |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **go** *in a quote* | infinitive | King *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn disappearance-48.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 5 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | King | my faithful John |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 6 | **know** *in a quote* | present | my faithful John | the good |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 7 | **do** *in a quote* | may · perfect | King |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .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:** «Grimm's Fairy Stories» by Jacob Grimm, Project Gutenberg book 11027 (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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