---
title: He had never seen him before, that was certain; but what mattered mu… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He had never seen him before, that was certain; but what mattered much more was how to catch him, and what should be done with him when he was caught? Who acts: man, that. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20, with its dependency tree and the pragmat
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20, sentence 61

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had never seen him before, that was certain; but what mattered much more was how to catch him, and what should be done with him when he was caught?

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**Who acts:** man, that · **What happens:** not see, be, matter, do, catch · **To what, where:** king, man

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This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 20. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (man, that), 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:pg2435:20:61
# text = He had never seen him before, that was certain; but what mattered much more was how to catch him, and what should be done with him when he was caught?
1	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	nsubj	_	_
2	had	have	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	never	never	ADV	RB	PronType=Neg	4	advmod	_	_
4	seen	see	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	4	obj	_	_
6	before	before	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	10	punct	_	_
8	that	that	PRON	DT	Number=Sing|PronType=Dem	10	nsubj	_	_
9	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	10	cop	_	_
10	certain	certain	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
12	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
13	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	14	nsubj	_	_
14	mattered	matter	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
15	much	much	ADV	RB	_	16	advmod	_	_
16	more	more	ADV	RBR	Degree=Cmp	20	advmod	_	_
17	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	20	cop	_	_
18	how	how	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	20	advmod	_	_
19	to	to	PART	TO	_	20	mark	_	_
20	catch	catch	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
21	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
22	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	27	punct	_	_
23	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	27	cc	_	_
24	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	27	obj	_	_
25	should	should	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	27	aux	_	_
26	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	27	aux:pass	_	_
27	done	do	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	conj	_	_
28	with	with	ADP	IN	_	29	case	_	_
29	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	27	obl	_	_
30	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	33	mark	_	_
31	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	33	nsubj:pass	_	_
32	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	33	aux:pass	_	_
33	caught	catch	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	27	advcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
34	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **see** | past · perfect | man | king |  |  |  | before *property* | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |
| 2 | **is** | past | that |  |  |  |  | certain *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **matter** | past |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn matter-91 «NP V»: agent=Stimulus |
| 4 | **is** | past |  |  |  |  |  | catch *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **do** | should · passive | man *not said here* |  |  |  |  | with man | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: what=Eventuality |
| 6 | **catch** | past · passive |  | man |  |  |  |  | vn get-13.5.1 «NP V NP»: subject=Theme |

<!-- .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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