---
title: But the eaglets answered that they could not tell, only that they ha… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the eaglets answered that they could not tell, only that they had been in danger of their lives, and at the last moment they had been delivered. Who acts: eaglets. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 10, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics 
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 10, sentence 13

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the eaglets answered that they could not tell, only that they had been in danger of their lives, and at the last moment they had been delivered.

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**Who acts:** eaglets · **What happens:** answer, not tell, be, deliver · **To what, where:** danger, eaglets · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 10. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (eaglets), 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:pg2435:10:13
# text = But the eaglets answered that they could not tell, only that they had been in danger of their lives, and at the last moment they had been delivered.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	eaglets	eaglet	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
6	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	tell	tell	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	17	punct	_	_
11	only	only	ADV	RB	_	17	advmod	_	_
12	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	17	mark	_	_
13	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
14	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	17	aux	_	_
15	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	17	cop	_	_
16	in	in	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	danger	danger	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	ccomp	_	_
18	of	of	ADP	IN	_	20	case	_	_
19	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	20	nmod:poss	_	_
20	lives	life	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	17	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	30	punct	_	_
22	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	30	cc	_	_
23	at	at	ADP	IN	_	26	case	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	last	last	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	moment	moment	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	30	obl	_	_
27	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	30	nsubj:pass	_	_
28	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	30	aux	_	_
29	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	30	aux:pass	_	_
30	delivered	deliver	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
31	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | the eaglets |  |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **tell** *speech: assert* | could | eaglets *= eaglet* |  |  |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 3 | **is** | past · perfect | eaglets *= eaglet* |  |  | danger |  | of eaglets's lives | tree rules |
| 4 | **deliver** | past · perfect · passive |  | eaglets *= eaglet* |  |  | moment |  | vn birth-28.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: subject=Patient |

<!-- .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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