---
title: But they did not mind being alone, and would have been quite happy,… — The Crimson Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: But they did not mind being alone, and would have been quite happy, if it had not been for a marten, who came every night to their poultry yard, and carried off one of their fowls. Who acts: men, hut, marten. A sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 24, wit
---

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# The Crimson Fairy Book, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 24, sentence 21

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
But they did not mind being alone, and would have been quite happy, if it had not been for a marten, who came every night to their poultry yard, and carried off one of their fowls.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** men, hut, marten · **What happens:** not mind, be, have, not be, come, carry off · **To what, where:** one

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Crimson Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Crimson Fairy Book, part 24. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (men, hut, marten), 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:pg2435:24:21
# text = But they did not mind being alone, and would have been quite happy, if it had not been for a marten, who came every night to their poultry yard, and carried off one of their fowls.
1	But	but	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
4	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	5	advmod	_	_
5	mind	mind	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
6	being	be	AUX	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	7	cop	_	_
7	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	14	cc	_	_
10	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	14	aux	_	_
11	have	have	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	14	aux	_	_
12	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	14	cop	_	_
13	quite	quite	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
14	happy	happy	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
15	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	18	punct	_	_
16	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	18	mark	_	_
17	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	18	nsubj	_	_
18	had	have	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	advcl	_	_
19	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	23	advmod	_	_
20	been	be	AUX	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part	23	cop	_	_
21	for	for	ADP	IN	_	23	case	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	23	det	_	_
23	marten	marten	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	18	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
25	who	who	PRON	WP	PronType=Rel	26	nsubj	_	_
26	came	come	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	23	parataxis	_	_
27	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	28	det	_	_
28	night	night	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl:unmarked	_	_
29	to	to	ADP	IN	_	32	case	_	_
30	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	32	nmod:poss	_	_
31	poultry	poultry	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	32	compound	_	_
32	yard	yard	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
33	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	35	punct	_	_
34	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	35	cc	_	_
35	carried	carry	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	26	conj	_	_
36	off	off	ADP	RP	_	35	compound:prt	_	_
37	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	35	obj	_	_
38	of	of	ADP	IN	_	40	case	_	_
39	their	their	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Plur|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	40	nmod:poss	_	_
40	fowls	fowl	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	37	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
41	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **not** **mind** | past · do-support | men *= man* |  |  |  |  |  | vn care-88.1 «NP V»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **is** | gerund |  |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | would · perfect | men *= man* *not said here* |  |  |  |  | happy *property* | tree rules |
| 4 | **have** *a condition, not said to happen* | past | hut |  |  |  |  |  | vn birth-28.2-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 5 | **not** **is** | participle |  |  |  |  |  | for a marten | tree rules |
| 6 | **come** | past | a marten |  |  |  | night | to men's poultry yard | vn escape-51.1-1 «NP V PP.initial\_location»: agent=Theme to yard=Initial\_Location |
| 7 | **carry off** | past | a marten *not said here* | one of men's fowls |  |  |  |  | vn carry-11.4 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent one=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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