---
title: The king must have laughed to himself at the thought of being scolde… — Fifty Famous Stories Retold · tree and pragmatics
description: The king must have laughed to himself at the thought of being scolded in this way; and he was so hungry that he did not mind the woman's angry words half so much as the loss of the cakes. Who acts: king, woman. A sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, King Alfred and the Cakes.,
---

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# Fifty Famous Stories Retold, King Alfred and the Cakes., sentence 31

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The king must have laughed to himself at the thought of being scolded in this way; and he was so hungry that he did not mind the woman's angry words half so much as the loss of the cakes.

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**Who acts:** king, woman · **What happens:** laugh, scold, be, not mind, word · **To what, where:** king, thought, way, angry words

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This is a sentence of «Fifty Famous Stories Retold» by James Baldwin, King Alfred and the Cakes.. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, woman), 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:pg18442:3:31
# text = The king must have laughed to himself at the thought of being scolded in this way; and he was so hungry that he did not mind the woman's angry words half so much as the loss of the cakes.
1	The	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	2	det	_	_
2	king	king	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	nsubj:pass	_	_
3	must	must	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	aux	_	_
5	laughed	laugh	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
6	to	to	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
7	himself	himself	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs|Reflex=Yes	5	obl	_	_
8	at	at	ADP	IN	_	10	case	_	_
9	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	10	det	_	_
10	thought	thought	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	_
11	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
12	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	13	aux:pass	_	_
13	scolded	scold	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	10	acl	_	_
14	in	in	ADP	IN	_	16	case	_	_
15	this	this	DET	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	16	det	_	_
16	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
17	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	22	punct	_	_
18	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
21	so	so	ADV	RB	_	22	advmod	_	_
22	hungry	hungry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	_
23	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	27	mark	_	_
24	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
25	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	27	advmod	_	_
27	mind	mind	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	advcl	_	_
28	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	29	det	_	_
29	woman	woman	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	's	's	PART	POS	_	29	case	_	_
31	angry	angry	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	32	amod	_	_
32	words	word	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	27	obj	_	_
33	half	half	ADV	RB	NumForm=Word|NumType=Frac	35	advmod	_	_
34	so	so	ADV	RB	_	35	advmod	_	_
35	much	much	ADV	RB	_	27	advmod	_	_
36	as	as	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
37	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	38	det	_	_
38	loss	loss	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	35	nmod	_	_
39	of	of	ADP	IN	_	41	case	_	_
40	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	41	det	_	_
41	cakes	cake	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	38	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
42	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **laugh** | must · perfect · passive |  | the king | king | the thought |  |  | vn nonverbal\_expression-40.2 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |
| 2 | **scold** | gerund · passive |  | the thought *not said here* |  | this way |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP» |
| 3 | **is** | past | king |  |  |  |  | hungry *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **not** **mind** | past · do-support | king | the woman's angry words |  |  |  |  | vn caring-75.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent word=Theme |
| 5 | **word** |  | the woman |  |  |  |  |  | nom word «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:** «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.

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