---
title: He stopped some of them and asked in all the twenty-seven languages… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He stopped some of them and asked in all the twenty-seven languages he knew what was the name of the city, but no one answered him. Who acts: He, one. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 19, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 19, sentence 4

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He stopped some of them and asked in all the twenty-seven languages he knew what was the name of the city, but no one answered him.

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**Who acts:** He, one · **What happens:** stop, ask, know, be, answer · **To what, where:** some, seven languages, name, him

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 19. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (He, one), 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:pg2435:19:4
# text = He stopped some of them and asked in all the twenty-seven languages he knew what was the name of the city, but no one answered him.
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	stopped	stop	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	some	some	DET	DT	PronType=Ind	2	obj	_	_
4	of	of	ADP	IN	_	5	case	_	_
5	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nmod	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	14	case	_	_
9	all	all	DET	PDT	PronType=Tot	14	det:predet	_	_
10	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
11	twenty	twenty	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	11	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	seven	seven	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	14	nummod	_	_
14	languages	language	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	7	obl	_	_
15	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	nsubj	_	_
16	knew	know	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	acl:relcl	_	_
17	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	20	nsubj	_	_
18	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	name	name	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	obj	_	_
21	of	of	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	city	city	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	20	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	28	punct	_	_
25	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	28	cc	_	_
26	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	27	det	_	_
27	one	one	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	28	nsubj	_	_
28	answered	answer	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	2	parataxis	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	28	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
30	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | past | He | some |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V NP.eventuality»: agent=Affector some=Eventuality |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | He *not said here* |  |  | all seven languages |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **know** | past | he | all seven languages *not said here* |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1-1 «NP V NP PP.attribute»: agent=Experiencer language=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is a** | past |  | the name |  |  |  | of the city | tree rules |
| 5 | **answer** *speech: assert* | past | no one |  | him *= he* |  |  |  | vn reciprocate-112-1 «NP V PP»: agent=Agent he=Eventuality |

<!-- .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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