---
title: But when he reached his twenty-fifth birthday he began to think that… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But when he reached his twenty-fifth birthday he began to think that it might be rather nice to have a wife, and he thought so much that at last he got quite eager about it. Who acts: Prince, it. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1, with its dependen
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 108

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But when he reached his twenty-fifth birthday he began to think that it might be rather nice to have a wife, and he thought so much that at last he got quite eager about it.

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**Who acts:** Prince, it · **What happens:** reach, begin, think, be, have, get · **To what, where:** fifth birthday, wife, much, last · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (Prince, it), 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:pg2435:1:108
# text = But when he reached his twenty-fifth birthday he began to think that it might be rather nice to have a wife, and he thought so much that at last he got quite eager about it.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	11	cc	_	_
2	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	4	mark	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
4	reached	reach	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	advcl	_	_
5	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	9	nmod:poss	_	_
6	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	8	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	6	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	fifth	fifth	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	birthday	birthday	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obj	_	_
10	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	nsubj	_	_
11	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
12	to	to	PART	TO	_	13	mark	_	_
13	think	think	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	11	xcomp	_	_
14	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	19	mark	_	_
15	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	19	nsubj	_	_
16	might	might	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	19	aux	_	_
17	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	cop	_	_
18	rather	rather	ADV	RB	_	19	advmod	_	_
19	nice	nice	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	ccomp	_	_
20	to	to	PART	TO	_	21	mark	_	_
21	have	have	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	19	xcomp	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	wife	wife	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	21	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
25	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
26	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	nsubj	_	_
27	thought	think	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	conj	_	_
28	so	so	ADV	RB	_	29	advmod	_	_
29	much	much	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	27	obj	_	_
30	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	34	mark	_	_
31	at	at	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
32	last	last	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	34	obl	_	_
33	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	34	nsubj	_	_
34	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	29	advcl	_	_
35	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	36	advmod	_	_
36	eager	eager	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	34	xcomp	_	_
37	about	about	ADP	IN	_	38	case	_	_
38	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	36	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
39	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	11	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **reach** | past | Prince | Prince's fifth birthday |  |  |  |  | vn body\_motion-49.2-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Agent birthday=Theme |
| 2 | **begin** | past | Prince |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **think** *speech: other* | to-infinitive | Prince *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **is** | might | it |  |  |  |  | nice *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **have** | to-infinitive |  | a wife |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent wife=Patient |
| 6 | **think** *speech: other* | past | Prince | much |  |  |  |  | vn wish-62 «NP V NP»: agent=Pivot much=Theme |
| 7 | **get** | past | Prince |  |  | last |  | eager *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |

<!-- .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:** «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 2435 (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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