---
title: Indeed, they were so bold that they snatched pieces of food from the… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Indeed, they were so bold that they snatched pieces of food from the King’s own plate, and if he drove them away, tried to bite his hands, so that he could not eat his food, and his courtiers fared no better. Who acts: miles, king, courtiers. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Th
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 18, sentence 34

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Indeed, they were so bold that they snatched pieces of food from the King’s own plate, and if he drove them away, tried to bite his hands, so that he could not eat his food, and his courtiers fared no better.

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**Who acts:** miles, king, courtiers · **What happens:** be, snatch, drive away, try, bite, not eat · **To what, where:** pieces, own plate, hands, food

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 18. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (miles, king, courtiers), 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:pg2435:18:34
# text = Indeed, they were so bold that they snatched pieces of food from the King’s own plate, and if he drove them away, tried to bite his hands, so that he could not eat his food, and his courtiers fared no better.
1	Indeed	indeed	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	6	nsubj	_	_
4	were	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	cop	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	6	advmod	_	_
6	bold	bold	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
7	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	9	mark	_	_
8	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
9	snatched	snatch	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	advcl	_	_
10	pieces	piece	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	obj	_	_
11	of	of	ADP	IN	_	12	case	_	_
12	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	10	nmod	_	_
13	from	from	ADP	IN	_	18	case	_	_
14	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	15	det	_	_
15	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	18	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	’s	's	PART	POS	_	15	case	_	_
17	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	amod	_	_
18	plate	plate	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
20	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
21	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	23	mark	_	_
22	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	nsubj	_	_
23	drove	drive	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	advcl	_	_
24	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	23	obj	_	_
25	away	away	ADV	RB	_	23	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	23	punct	_	_
27	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
28	to	to	PART	TO	_	29	mark	_	_
29	bite	bite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	xcomp	_	_
30	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	31	nmod:poss	_	_
31	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	29	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
32	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	38	punct	_	_
33	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	38	mark	_	_
34	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	33	fixed	_	_
35	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	38	nsubj	_	_
36	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	38	aux	_	_
37	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	38	advmod	_	_
38	eat	eat	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	29	conj	_	_
39	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	38	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	45	punct	_	_
42	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	45	cc	_	_
43	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	44	nmod:poss	_	_
44	courtiers	courtier	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	45	nsubj	_	_
45	fared	fare	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	27	conj	_	_
46	no	no	ADV	RB	_	47	advmod	_	_
47	better	good	ADJ	JJR	Degree=Cmp	45	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
48	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** | past | miles *= mile* |  |  |  |  | bold, indeed *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **snatch** | past | miles *= mile* | pieces of food |  | the King's own plate |  |  | vn obtain-13.5.2 «NP V NP PP.source»: agent=Agent piece=Theme from plate=Source |
| 3 | **drive away** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | king | pieces *= piece* |  |  |  | away *property* | vn nonvehicle-51.4.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Theme |
| 4 | **try** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 5 | **bite** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive |  | king's hands |  |  |  |  | vn swat-18.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent hand=Patient |
| 6 | **not** **eat** | could | king | king's food |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent food=Patient |
| 7 | **fare** | past | king's courtiers |  |  |  |  | good *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .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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