--- title: So they went back, and told the king that Gotham was a town of fools… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics description: So they went back, and told the king that Gotham was a town of fools; and the king laughed, and said that if that was the case, he would not harm them, but would let them keep their noses. Who acts: horsemen, Gotham, king, that. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Other Wis --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/15/69/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Fifty Famous Stories Retold](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/) / [Other Wise Men of Gotham.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/15/) / 69 # Fifty Famous Stories Retold, Other Wise Men of Gotham., sentence 69 So they went back, and told the king that Gotham was a town of fools; and the king laughed, and said that if that was the case, he would not harm them, but would let them keep their noses. **Who acts:** horsemen, Gotham, king, that · **What happens:** go back, tell, be, laugh, say, not harm · **To what, where:** king, town, case, horsemen, noses · **Speech:** someone speaks here This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Other Wise Men of Gotham.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (horsemen, Gotham, king, that), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree. **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:pg18442:15:69 # text = So they went back, and told the king that Gotham was a town of fools; and the king laughed, and said that if that was the case, he would not harm them, but would let them keep their noses. 1 So so ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ _ 2 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 3 nsubj _ _ 3 went go VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 4 back back ADV RB _ 3 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 5 , , PUNCT , _ 7 punct _ _ 6 and and CCONJ CC _ 7 cc _ _ 7 told tell VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ _ 8 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 9 det _ _ 9 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 obj _ _ 10 that that SCONJ IN _ 14 mark _ _ 11 Gotham Gotham PROPN NNP Number=Sing 14 nsubj _ _ 12 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 14 cop _ _ 13 a a DET DT Definite=Ind|PronType=Art 14 det _ _ 14 town town NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 ccomp _ _ 15 of of ADP IN _ 16 case _ _ 16 fools fool NOUN NNS Number=Plur 14 nmod _ SpaceAfter=No 17 ; ; PUNCT : _ 21 punct _ _ 18 and and CCONJ CC _ 21 cc _ _ 19 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 20 det _ _ 20 king king NOUN NN Number=Sing 21 nsubj _ _ 21 laughed laugh VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 3 conj _ SpaceAfter=No 22 , , PUNCT , _ 24 punct _ _ 23 and and CCONJ CC _ 24 cc _ _ 24 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 21 conj _ _ 25 that that SCONJ IN _ 35 mark _ _ 26 if if SCONJ IN _ 30 mark _ _ 27 that that PRON DT Number=Sing|PronType=Dem 30 nsubj _ _ 28 was be AUX VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 30 cop _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 case case NOUN NN Number=Sing 35 advcl _ SpaceAfter=No 31 , , PUNCT , _ 30 punct _ _ 32 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 nsubj _ _ 33 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 35 aux _ _ 34 not not PART RB Polarity=Neg 35 advmod _ _ 35 harm harm VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 24 ccomp _ _ 36 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 35 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 37 , , PUNCT , _ 40 punct _ _ 38 but but CCONJ CC _ 40 cc _ _ 39 would would AUX MD VerbForm=Fin 40 aux _ _ 40 let let VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 21 ccomp _ _ 41 them they PRON PRP Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 40 obj _ _ 42 keep keep VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 40 xcomp _ _ 43 their their PRON PRP$ Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs 44 nmod:poss _ _ 44 noses nose NOUN NNS Number=Plur 42 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 45 . . PUNCT . _ 3 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **go back** | past | horsemen *= horseman* | | | | | | vn convert-26.6.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Patient | | 2 | **tell** *speech: assert* | past | horsemen *= horseman* *not said here* | | the king | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent king=Recipient | | 3 | **is a** | past | Gotham | a town | | | | of fools | tree rules | | 4 | **laugh** | past | the king | | | | | | tree rules | | 5 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the king *not said here* | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 6 | **is a** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | that | the case | | | | | tree rules | | 7 | **not** **harm** | would | king | horsemen *= horseman* | | | | | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer | | 8 | **let** | would | the king *not said here* | horsemen *= horseman* | | | | | tree rules | | 9 | **keep** | infinitive | horsemen *= horseman* *not said here* | horsemen's noses | | | | | vn keep-15.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nose=Theme | 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. **Text:** «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, Project Gutenberg book 18442 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order. - ← previous: [sentence 68](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/15/68/) - next →: [The Miller of the Dee., 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/16/1/) - ↑ back to [Other Wise Men of Gotham.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg18442/15/)