---
title: He had only eaten a few mouthfuls when an old man badly dressed pass… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: He had only eaten a few mouthfuls when an old man badly dressed passed by, and seeing the food, asked if the young man could not spare him a little. Who acts: king, old man, seeing, young man. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 21, with its dependency
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 21, sentence 99

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
He had only eaten a few mouthfuls when an old man badly dressed passed by, and seeing the food, asked if the young man could not spare him a little.

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**Who acts:** king, old man, seeing, young man · **What happens:** eat, dress, pass by, see, ask, not spare · **To what, where:** few mouthfuls, food, king · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 21. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (king, old man, seeing, young man), 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:pg2435:21:99
# text = He had only eaten a few mouthfuls when an old man badly dressed passed by, and seeing the food, asked if the young man could not spare him a little.
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	only	only	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
4	eaten	eat	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	0	root	_	_
5	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	7	det	_	_
6	few	few	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	7	amod	_	_
7	mouthfuls	mouthful	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	obj	_	_
8	when	when	SCONJ	WRB	_	13	mark	_	_
9	an	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	11	amod	_	_
11	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	13	nsubj	_	_
12	badly	badly	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	13	advmod	_	_
13	dressed	dress	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	4	advcl	_	_
14	passed	pass	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	13	xcomp	_	_
15	by	by	ADP	IN	_	14	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	22	punct	_	_
17	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	22	cc	_	_
18	seeing	see	VERB	VBG	VerbForm=Ger	22	csubj	_	_
19	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	20	det	_	_
20	food	food	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
21	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
22	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	conj	_	_
23	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	29	mark	_	_
24	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
25	young	young	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	26	amod	_	_
26	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	29	nsubj	_	_
27	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	29	aux	_	_
28	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	29	advmod	_	_
29	spare	spare	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	ccomp	_	_
30	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	29	obj	_	_
31	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	32	det	_	_
32	little	little	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	29	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **eat** | past · perfect | king | a few mouthfuls |  |  |  |  | vn eat-39.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent mouthful=Patient |
| 2 | **dress** | participle | a old man |  |  |  |  | badly *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **pass by** | participle | a old man *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn occur-48.3-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **see** | gerund |  | the food |  |  |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer food=Stimulus |
| 5 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | seeing |  |  |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V how S»: agent=Agent clause=Topic |
| 6 | **not** **spare** *a condition, not said to happen* | could | the young man | king |  |  |  | a little *obl:unmarked* | vn bill-54.5 «NP V NP NP.asset»: agent=Agent he=Asset |

<!-- .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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