--- title: On being questioned the old man said he knew nothing, but begged the… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics description: On being questioned the old man said he knew nothing, but begged the prince to stay overnight, and the next morning the old man called all the ravens together, but they too had nothing to tell. Who acts: old man, man, ravens. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy B --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/1/38/) [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/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/) / [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/1/) / 38 # The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1, sentence 38 On being questioned the old man said he knew nothing, but begged the prince to stay overnight, and the next morning the old man called all the ravens together, but they too had nothing to tell. **Who acts:** old man, man, ravens · **What happens:** question, say, know, beg, stay, call · **To what, where:** nothing, prince, ravens · **Speech:** someone speaks here 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 (old man, man, ravens), 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:pg2435:1:38 # text = On being questioned the old man said he knew nothing, but begged the prince to stay overnight, and the next morning the old man called all the ravens together, but they too had nothing to tell. 1 On on SCONJ IN _ 3 mark _ _ 2 being be AUX VBG Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part 3 aux:pass _ _ 3 questioned question VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 7 advcl _ _ 4 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 6 det _ _ 5 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 6 amod _ _ 6 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 7 nsubj _ _ 7 said say VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 0 root _ _ 8 he he PRON PRP Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs 9 nsubj _ _ 9 knew know VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 ccomp _ _ 10 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 9 obj _ SpaceAfter=No 11 , , PUNCT , _ 13 punct _ _ 12 but but CCONJ CC _ 13 cc _ _ 13 begged beg VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 7 conj _ _ 14 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 15 det _ _ 15 prince prince NOUN NN Number=Sing 13 obj _ _ 16 to to PART TO _ 17 mark _ _ 17 stay stay VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 13 xcomp _ _ 18 overnight overnight ADV RB _ 17 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 19 , , PUNCT , _ 31 punct _ _ 20 and and CCONJ CC _ 31 cc _ _ 21 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 23 det _ _ 22 next next ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 23 amod _ _ 23 morning morning NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nsubj _ _ 24 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 26 det _ _ 25 old old ADJ JJ Degree=Pos 26 amod _ _ 26 man man NOUN NN Number=Sing 31 nsubj _ _ 27 called call VERB VBN Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass 26 acl _ _ 28 all all DET PDT PronType=Tot 30 det:predet _ _ 29 the the DET DT Definite=Def|PronType=Art 30 det _ _ 30 ravens raven NOUN NNS Number=Plur 27 xcomp _ _ 31 together together ADV RB _ 13 advmod _ SpaceAfter=No 32 , , PUNCT , _ 36 punct _ _ 33 but but CCONJ CC _ 36 cc _ _ 34 they they PRON PRP Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs 36 nsubj _ _ 35 too too ADV RB _ 36 advmod _ _ 36 had have VERB VBD Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin 13 conj _ _ 37 nothing nothing PRON NN Number=Sing|PronType=Neg 36 obj _ _ 38 to to PART TO _ 39 mark _ _ 39 tell tell VERB VB VerbForm=Inf 37 acl _ SpaceAfter=No 40 . . PUNCT . _ 7 punct _ _ ``` ## Pragmatics {#pragmatics} | # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | **question** *speech: other* | gerund · passive | the old man *not said here* | | | | | | vn interrogate-37.1.3 «NP V NP» | | 2 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the old man | | | | | | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic | | 3 | **know** | past | man | nothing | | | | | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer nothing=Stimulus | | 4 | **beg** *speech: request* | past | the old man *not said here* | | the prince | | | together *property* | vn beg-58.2-1-1 «NP V NP S\_INF»: agent=Agent prince=Recipient clause=Topic | | 5 | **stay** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | the old man *not said here* | | | | | overnight *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme | | 6 | **call** | participle | the old man *not said here* | all ravens | | | | | vn initiate\_communication-37.4.2-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | | 7 | **have** | past | ravens *= raven* | nothing | | | | | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent nothing=Patient | | 8 | **tell** *speech: assert* | to-infinitive | ravens *= raven* *not said here* | nothing *not said here* | | | | | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent | 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:** «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. - ← previous: [sentence 37](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/1/37/) - next →: [sentence 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/1/39/) - ↑ back to [The Crimson Fairy Book, part 1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg2435/1/)