---
title: Anyone would have thought that when the old people had only one son… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: Anyone would have thought that when the old people had only one son left that at least they would have been kind to him, even if they did not love him. Who acts: old people, one son, people. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 22, with its dependency t
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 22, sentence 9

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Anyone would have thought that when the old people had only one son left that at least they would have been kind to him, even if they did not love him.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** old people, one son, people · **What happens:** think, have, leave, be, not love · **To what, where:** Anyone, man, least · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 22. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (old people, one son, people), 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:pg2435:22:9
# text = Anyone would have thought that when the old people had only one son left that at least they would have been kind to him, even if they did not love him.
1	Anyone	anyone	PRON	NN	Number=Sing|PronType=Ind	4	nsubj:pass	_	_
2	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	4	aux	_	_
3	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	4	aux	_	_
4	thought	think	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	0	root	_	_
5	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
6	when	when	ADV	WRB	PronType=Int	10	advmod	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	10	nsubj	_	_
10	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	14	advcl	_	_
11	only	only	ADV	RB	_	12	advmod	_	_
12	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	13	nummod	_	_
13	son	son	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nsubj	_	_
14	left	leave	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	4	ccomp	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
16	at	at	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
17	least	least	ADJ	JJS	Degree=Sup	22	obl	_	_
18	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
19	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
20	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	aux	_	_
21	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	22	cop	_	_
22	kind	kind	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	14	advcl	_	_
23	to	to	ADP	IN	_	24	case	_	_
24	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
26	even	even	ADV	RB	_	31	advmod	_	_
27	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
28	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
29	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
30	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	31	advmod	_	_
31	love	love	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	advcl	_	_
32	him	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **think** *speech: other* | would · perfect · passive |  | Anyone |  |  |  |  | vn consider-29.9-2 «NP V NP ADJ»: subject=Attribute clause=Theme |
| 2 | **have** | past | the old people |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **leave** | past | one son |  |  |  |  |  | vn escape-51.1-1-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 4 | **is** | would · perfect | people |  | man | least |  | kind *property* | tree rules |
| 5 | **not** **love** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · do-support | people | man |  |  |  |  | vn admire-31.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Experiencer he=Stimulus |

<!-- .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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