---
title: When his letter came, telling the king, his father, he was to be let… — More English Fairy Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: When his letter came, telling the king, his father, he was to be let free when Gobborn and Jack were safe home, the king saw he must settle for the building, and let them come away. Who acts: letter, Gobborn, king, hole. A sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy T
---

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# More English Fairy Tales, More English Fairy Tales, part 6, sentence 77

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
When his letter came, telling the king, his father, he was to be let free when Gobborn and Jack were safe home, the king saw he must settle for the building, and let them come away.

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**Who acts:** letter, Gobborn, king, hole, pen · **What happens:** come, tell, let, be, see, settle · **To what, where:** king, hole, pen · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, More English Fairy Tales, part 6. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (letter, Gobborn, king, hole), 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:pg14241:20:77
# text = When his letter came, telling the king, his father, he was to be let free when Gobborn and Jack were safe home, the king saw he must settle for the building, and let them come away.
1	When	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
2	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	3	nmod:poss	_	_
3	letter	letter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	nsubj	_	_
4	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	6	punct	_	_
6	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
10	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	11	nmod:poss	_	_
11	father	father	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
13	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj:pass	_	_
14	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux:pass	_	_
15	to	to	PART	TO	_	17	mark	_	_
16	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	aux:pass	_	_
17	let	let	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
18	free	free	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	17	xcomp	_	_
19	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	24	mark	_	_
20	Gobborn	Gobborn	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
21	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
22	Jack	Jack	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	20	conj	_	_
23	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
24	safe	safe	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	advcl	_	_
25	home	home	ADV	RB	_	24	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	saw	see	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	conj	_	_
30	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	32	nsubj	_	_
31	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	32	aux	_	_
32	settle	settle	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	ccomp	_	_
33	for	for	ADP	IN	_	35	case	_	_
34	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	35	det	_	_
35	building	building	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
36	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
37	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	38	cc	_	_
38	let	let	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	17	conj	_	_
39	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	obj	_	_
40	come	come	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	38	xcomp	_	_
41	away	away	ADV	RB	_	40	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	17	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **come** | past | hole's letter |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | gerund | hole's letter *not said here* |  | the king |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent king=Recipient |
| 3 | **let** | past · passive |  | hole |  |  |  | free *property* | vn give-13.1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | past | Gobborn and Jack |  |  |  |  | home, safe *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **see** | past | the king |  |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 6 | **settle** | must | hole |  |  |  |  | for the building | vn correspond-36.1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 7 | **let** | infinitive |  | pen |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 8 | **come away** | infinitive | pen *not said here* |  |  |  |  | away *property* | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **letter** |  | hole |  |  |  |  |  | nom letter «communication transitive»: poss=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:** «More English Fairy Tales» by Joseph Jacobs, Project Gutenberg book 14241 (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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