---
title: But the cost of the passage was more than the prudent Tiidu cared to… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But the cost of the passage was more than the prudent Tiidu cared to pay, and though he played his best on his pipes, the captain refused to lower his price, and Tiidu was just thinking of returning on shore when his usual luck flew to his aid. Who acts: cost, prudent Tiidu, Tiidu, captain. A senten
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 11, sentence 18

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But the cost of the passage was more than the prudent Tiidu cared to pay, and though he played his best on his pipes, the captain refused to lower his price, and Tiidu was just thinking of returning on shore when his usual luck flew to his aid.

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**Who acts:** cost, prudent Tiidu, Tiidu, captain, usual luck · **What happens:** be, care, pay, play, refuse, not lower · **To what, where:** best, pipes, price, shore, passage

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 11. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (cost, prudent Tiidu, Tiidu, captain), 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:pg2435:11:18
# text = But the cost of the passage was more than the prudent Tiidu cared to pay, and though he played his best on his pipes, the captain refused to lower his price, and Tiidu was just thinking of returning on shore when his usual luck flew to his aid.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	cost	cost	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	8	nsubj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
5	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	6	det	_	_
6	passage	passage	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	3	nmod	_	_
7	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	cop	_	_
8	more	more	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	0	root	_	_
9	than	than	SCONJ	IN	_	13	mark	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	12	det	_	_
11	prudent	prudent	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	12	amod	_	_
12	Tiidu	Tiidu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
13	cared	care	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	advcl	_	_
14	to	to	PART	TO	_	15	mark	_	_
15	pay	pay	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	13	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	20	cc	_	_
18	though	though	SCONJ	IN	_	20	mark	_	_
19	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	played	play	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	8	conj	_	_
21	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	22	nmod:poss	_	_
22	best	good	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	20	obj	_	_
23	on	on	ADP	IN	_	25	case	_	_
24	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	25	nmod:poss	_	_
25	pipes	pipe	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	20	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	29	punct	_	_
27	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	28	det	_	_
28	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
29	refused	refuse	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	conj	_	_
30	to	to	PART	TO	_	31	mark	_	_
31	lower	lower	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	xcomp	_	_
32	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	33	nmod:poss	_	_
33	price	price	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	39	punct	_	_
35	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	39	cc	_	_
36	Tiidu	Tiidu	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	39	nsubj	_	_
37	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	39	aux	_	_
38	just	just	ADV	RB	_	39	advmod	_	_
39	thinking	think	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	29	advcl	_	_
40	of	of	SCONJ	IN	_	41	mark	_	_
41	returning	return	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	39	advcl	_	_
42	on	on	ADP	IN	_	43	case	_	_
43	shore	shore	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	41	obl	_	_
44	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	48	mark	_	_
45	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	47	nmod:poss	_	_
46	usual	usual	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	47	amod	_	_
47	luck	luck	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	nsubj	_	_
48	flew	fly	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	41	advcl	_	_
49	to	to	ADP	IN	_	51	case	_	_
50	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	51	nmod:poss	_	_
51	aid	aid	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	48	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
52	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	8	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | the cost of the passage |  |  |  |  | more *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **care** | past | the prudent Tiidu |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1-1 «NP V what S»: agent=Experiencer clause=Stimulus |
| 3 | **pay** | to-infinitive | the prudent Tiidu *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn pay-68-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 4 | **play** | past | Tiidu | Tiidu's best |  | Tiidu's pipes |  |  | vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent good=Theme |
| 5 | **refuse** | past | the captain |  |  |  |  |  | vn reject-77.2 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Agent clause=Theme |
| 6 | **not** **lower** | to-infinitive | the captain *not said here* | Tiidu's price |  |  |  |  | vn put\_direction-9.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent price=Theme |
| 7 | **think** *speech: other* | past · progressive | Tiidu |  |  |  |  |  | vn focus-87.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 8 | **return** | gerund | Tiidu *not said here* |  |  | shore |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 9 | **fly** | past | Tiidu's usual luck |  |  |  |  | to Tiidu's aid *result* | vn run-51.3.2-2-1 «NP V PP.result»: agent=Theme to aid=Result |
| 10 | **cost** |  |  | the passage |  |  |  |  | nom cost «possession transitive»: of=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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